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THE SOUL : 

ITS ORIGIN AND RELATION TO 

THE BODY; TO THE WORLD; 

AND TO IMMORTALITY. 



BY 



E. T. COLLINS, M. D. 



IN TWO PARTS. 



CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE 
NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS. 



L 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copies Received 

APR. 5 1901 

Copyright entry 
CLASS CLxXc. Ne. 

^^110 9 

COPY B, 






OOPYKIGHT, 1901, BT 
THE WESTKRN METH- 
ODIST BOOK CONCERN. 



DEDICATED 
TO MY FAMILY. 



PEEFACE. 

IT is customary, in writing a book, to preface the 
work by some introductory remarks, giving a brief 
outline of the subject to which the author proposes to 
call the attention of the reader. The train of reflection 
presented in these pages grew out of the following cir- 
cumstance, which came directly under the personal ob- 
servation of the writer: Briefly stated, I was standing 
on the right bank of a riA-er, and, having my attention 
suddenly called to a sound like that of the whistle of 
a steamboat, I turned in the direction from which the 
sound proceeded, and saw, in the middle of the stream, 
a boat pressing against the current, with dense columns 
of smoke arising from its chimneys. A moment later 
I saw smoke issuing from the staterooms, accompanied 
with Jets of flame. The boat was on fire, and the pas- 
sengers — men, women, and children — were pressing in 
great consternation towards the bow of the boat, from 
which they were leaping into the turbid waters beneath, 
to escape from the burning flames that were fast en- 
compassing them. A few moments later I saw the 
heads of the terrified passengers disappear beneath the 
surface of the watery element. The sight was of such 
a terrifying nature that it awoke me. 

5 



6 Preface. 

I had been dreaming. My whole physical frame 
was thrown into a tremor of great nervous and muscular 
excitement. I was in bed, and involuntarily covered 
my face with the bed-clothes, as if to shut out the 
terrible scene, which for the moment preceding ap- 
peared to present all the force and terrifjdng influence 
of a distressing reality. The excitement had followed 
me into the wakiQg state, as if to haunt me still. I 
saw I had been terrified at a scene presented in a dream. 
I asked myself the following questions: What is a 
dreiam, and what does all this excitement of mind and 
body mean? Did I see nothing, and have I been thus 
terrified at nothing? 

With these and other questions pressing directly 
upon the mind, and believing that nature never works 
in vain, I sought for a rational solution of this very 
common but mysterious problem. I had just been read- 
ing Sir William Hamilton's lectures in regard to the 
"Philosophy of Perception." In these lectures we have 
the authority of consciousness applied as a positive and 
truthful criterion upon which we are assured, through 
our own emotional feelings and subjective sensations, 
of the existence of self, and, through our sense-percep- 
tions, the existence of a not-self standing in direct rela- 
tion to us — 8, self and a not-self in relation to each 
other. In the testimony of consciousness, we have cer- 
tain facts presented to us which serve as a reliable cri- 
terion or as data in regard to the ultimate truths of 
philosophy. Thus, whatever we are made conscious 



Pkeface. 7 

of by means of our immediate sense-perceptions, tbat 
most truly exists. It must have an existence of some 
kind, either physical or mental; otherwise, in the lan- 
guage of Sir Wm. Hamilton, "(xod would be a de- 
ceiver and our very nature a lie." 

Sir Wm. Hamilton has enumerated and given us 
separate citations from the pages of philosophy, naming 
one hundred and six prominent authors who have, 
either directly or indirectly, subscribed to the truth 
of the deliverances of consciousness in regard to the 
real or iona fide existence of the phenomena of both 
mind and matter. In this statem'ent he thus declares 
that no philosopher has been found bold enough to at- 
tempt to set aside its authority as reliable data in 
questions of ^^common-sense philosophy." The result of 
this attempt to set aside the testimony of consciousness 
has been shown by Fichte, a celebrated German philos- 
opher, who formally pushed the denial of this authority 
to its ultimate conclusion by tracing it to its true, log- 
ical ending in complete and hopeless Nihilism in refer- 
ence to all things, both mental and material. 

Armed with the numerous citations from authori- 
ties, as given above by one who has been justly regarded 
the most erudite of the pliilosophers, we made a similar 
application to the dream-phenomenon above mentioned 
in regard to the authority of consciousness in support 
of the -hona fide existence of the objective phenomena 
presented, not only to us, but to every man, while in 
the dream state. Perception is an act of the mind in 



8 Preface. 

relation to an object or phenomen'on of some kind, either 
subjective or objective. 

Omitting, for the present, the application of the 
testimony of consciousness in reference to the phenom- 
ena of the waking state, we shall proceed to make aji 
application of it in regard to the dream above related. 
In this case we were immediately conscious of at least 
six leading facts by which the existence of the entire 
dream-phenomenon may be established and applied in 
regard to this as well as to all other like occasions: 
First, we were conscious of our own personal existence 
during the dream. Second, we were also conscious 
of the existence of certain leading thouglits that arose 
in the mind in reference to the objective phenomena 
presented to view. [We expect to show that there can 
be no dream without corresponding accompanying 
thoughts in connection with the phenomena presented.] 
To think in sleep is to dream. Third, we were con- 
scious of the particular subject which at the time en- 
gaged the attention of the mind. Fourth, we were con- 
scious of hearing a sound resembling that of the whistle 
of a steamboat. Fifth, we were conscious of witness- 
ing the objective scenery presented to our view, as 
well as its direct spatial relation to us at the time. 
And, sixth, we were conscious of experiencing a high 
degree of emotional feeling of excitement, the continu- 
ance of which feeling was directly verified to us im- 
mediately after by its transference from the sleeping 
to the waking condition of the nervous system; thus 



Pkeface. 9 

demonstrating that part of the dream-phenomenon in 
both states. 

Now, if the testimony of consciousness should fail 
to verify any one of the above particulars enumerated, 
the question would at once arise, Which deliverance is 
true, land which is false? As runs the legal brocard, 
'^Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus/' would apply here 
the same as in legal proceedings. If the veracity of 
the testimony of our consciousness can be set aside or 
invalidated in any one of the above particulars, it would 
throw a suspicion upon all its deliverances, which 
would place us entirely beyond all direct means of estab- 
lishing the fact of the existence of the phenomena of 
either mind or matter. In that case we should be 
unable to establish the fact of the existence of either 
sensations, perceptions, or thoughts, thus logically an- 
nulling the truth of any and all testimony of our own 
existence, both in the waking and dream states of th^e 
mind. The consequence of such a logical procedure as 
a denial of the authority of the deliverance of con- 
sciousness, like that stated above, would have the effect 
of throwing over us an oblivion of darkness equal to 
that which overshadowed our impersonal existence dur- 
ing the countless millions of years -of the past, which 
precedes our present personal form of existence, thus 
rendering all past and present time a state of darkness 
and hopeless oblivion. We must either accept all the 
deliverances of consciousness, or reject them all. There 
is no middle ground upon this subject; for there is no 



10 Preface. 

higher authority to which we can appeal to prove by 
any system of logical argumentation the existence of 
our own perceptions in regard to the existence of the 
phenomena of either maitter or mind. 

If we can not depend upon the testimony arising 
within us of our O'wn self-oonsciousness to establish 
the fact of the existence of every part of the dream- 
pEenomenon in regard to the existence of ourselves 
and in regard to the bona fide existence of an objective 
scenery of some kind surrounding us at the time, we 
should then fail to prove our own existence at such 
times, or even show that we had ever experienced a 
dream, or that it had ever been witnessed by any 
member of the human family. And thus the very 
foundation of all thought, philosophy, and lo-gic would 
be entirely swept away, leaving in its stead, as a logical 
result, a complete nihilism in regard to the existence 
of both mind and matter. If, on the other hand, we 
accept without reserve the authority of consciousness 
in regard to our perceptions, we are presented with 
two classes of phenomena, both equally certain, both 
equally reliable, in reference to their existence. Eaoh 
class is controlled by a separate system of laws: one 
class pertaining to the phenomena of matter, the other 
to the phenomena of mind. Both classes of phenomena 
are directly presented to us in the forms of sense-per- 
ception. We cognize one class through the senses of 
the body when awake; the other, when the functions 



Preface. 11 

of the brain and special nerves of sense are normally- 
suspended during sleep. One class of phenomena re- 
lates to the present physical state of existence; the other 
points us to a separate state of existence of the soul 
hereafter, when disconnected from the body. One class 
relates to time, the other to eternity. 

Before proceeding, however, to consider the dream- 
phenomenon in reference to a future state of existence, 
we must first show what is sleep, and how the dream- 
phenomena are produced while in this peculiar torpi- 
tude of the nervous system. We must also show what 
are the relation and bearing of the dream-phenomena 
to the thoughts of the dreamer as presented in sense- 
phenomena before him, as well as their bearing in refer- 
ence to a future state of the existence of the soul after 
the death of the body has shut off its connection and 
relation to the physical world. This will be the work 
of the following pages. But before entering upon the 
consideration of these points of inquiry, we must show 
when the soul is formed and how it is connected to 
the several parts of the body, and likewise show its 
relation, through the different sense-organs of the body, 
to the world around it, as well as to point out certain 
special powers adapting it to immortality, together with 
other questions having more or less direct bearing upon 
these controverted points, which will receive attention 
as we proceed. In attempting to answer such questions 
as are involved in the above, which have been so often 



12 Preface. 

asked, but perhaps seldom or never satisfactorily an- 
swered, we are compelled to ask a reasonable indulgence 
on the part of the reader before making up his final 
decision in regard to the merits of the questions in- 
volved in these inquiries. 

E. T. COLLINS. 

South Charleston, Clark County, Ohio. 



INTRODUCTION. 

I GLADLY write an introduction to Dr. Collinses 
volume for four reasons: 

First. I found the manuscript of the volume in- 
tensely interesting. I began reading it one afternoon, 
and continued reading long into the night, finishing it 
the next day. It is impossihle to test a volume by the 
interest which it awakens in one person, as it may not 
awaken a similar interest in other minds. Indeed, a 
book may not awaken the sam-e interest in the same 
mind if read at different stages of one's experience. I 
can not, however, think that my interest in the great 
problems of the relation of the soul to the body, of 
immortality, etc., is a personal one. Surely thousands 
of ministers and students and thoughtful laymen are 
pondering the problems of the spirit in the new light 
which modem science is throwing upon them. They 
are wondering how far evolution affects our belief in 
the reality of spirit and in the doctrine of immor- 
tality. This interest is shown by such books as New- 
man Smythe's "Place of Death in Evolution" and John 
Fiske's "Destiny of Man." My first reason, therefore, 
for believing that Dr. Collins's volume will do good is 
my conviction that it will prove interesting and be 
read by a, large number of persons. 

13 



14 Introduction. 

Second. The book impresses me as organic. It is a 
living wih'ole. Not a chapter can be cut out without 
taking away a part of the argument. The book con- 
tains some repetitions, but these are necessiary on ac- 
count of the presentation of the subject in a novel 
light. The various positions of the author must be re- 
peated with sufficient frequency to make a clear and 
definite impression upon the reader's mind. But the 
volume as a whole is not bulky, and it possesses that 
unity which comes from long thought by an author 
upon the materials of his volume. Milton says, in sub- 
stance, that every great poem is the life-blood of a 
noble soul. This book seems to me to be a living product 
of a thoughtful mind. 

Third. The volume impresses mie as a scientific 
contribution to a spiritual subject. It is said that 
Darwin carried on experiments for twenty years be- 
fore writing his volume upon Earth Worms. Dr. Col- 
lins has pondered upon the problems discussed for a 
generation. The book has been in his mind, and he 
has been making observations and gathering materials 
for it during all these years. This is a volume by a 
layman. Dr. Collins has been a successful practicing 
physician for half a century, and in some cases has 
ministered to four succeeding generations in a single 
family. During all these years he has studied the great 
problems of psychology and of religion from the stand- 
point of a practicing physician. Instead of becoming 
a skeptic through his observations of the intimate rela- 



Introduction. 15 

tions between mind and body, his experiments and medi- 
tations have confirmed him in the Biblical view of 
the reality and independence of the spirit. I am still 
further confirmed in my estimate of the interest of this 
volume by the testimony of one of the ablest professors 
of philosophy in this country, who has also read the 
manuscript and tells me that it makes a real contribu- 
tion to the subject of psychology and its relation to 
modern science. Surely if one does not agree with all 
his arguments, he will respect the convictions of a man 
who has experimented and meditated for a generation 
before pronouncing judgment upon the questions of 
deepest interest to our modem world. 

Fourth. The volume furnishes a new and striking 
argument for the doctrine of immortality. Personally, 
I confess that I have found great difficulty in present- 
ing an argument for immortality outside of the Bible 
which would be convincing to a skeptic. While not 
personally doubting the doctrine, I have often been 
unable to give reasons for the faith that is within me. 
Hence I hail this volume as a fresh contribution to 
one of the oldest subjects with which the 'human mind 
has grappled. Life is short at the longest. Human 
ambitions are out of all proportion to the earthly plat- 
form on which we play our parts. Any possible light 
which may be thrown upon the problem of our future 
life, any strengthening of old convictions, any presen- 
tation of fresh arguments, will be weloomied eagerly 
by earnest searchers for the truth. 



16 Introduction. 

I deem it an honor, therefore, to present Dr. Col- 
lins to his readers with this brief introdnctiooi. May 
his volnmje help thousands to walk in the path of 
Christian faith in which he has walked for so many 
years, and to reach at last the great home toward which 
he is eagerly looking forward! 

J. W. BASHFORD. 

Delaware^ 0., February ^ 1901, 



OOI^rTEl^TS. 



part I. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL--ITS CONNECTION 
AND RELATION TO THE BODY. 

PAGE. 

Every Animal Organism may be Traced Back to an 
Ultimate Point, or Beginning, in a Fecundated 
Ovum or Germ-Cell 21 

On the Nature op Fecundation, and its Relation 

TO Life and Mind 55 



Part II* 

THE RELATION OF THE SOUL TO THE 
WORLD, AND TO IMMORTALITY. 

CHAPTER L 

Section I. Sleep *. 103 

Section II. Dreaming 123 

CHAPTER II. 

Man, a Microcosm 174 

2 17 



IS Co^' TEXTS. 

CHAPTEK III. 

PAGE. 

The Soul an Im^iaterial Entity — 2sot Dependent 

UPON THE Brain and Sense-organs in Dreaming. 203 

CHAPTER IV. 

Inspired Dreams and Visions. 

Section I. Inspired Dreams 235 

Section II. Trance 253 

CHAPTER V. 

The Reign of Law in the World of the Soul: 

Apocalyptic Vision 287 

CHAPTER Vl. 

On the Resurrection of the Dead ; and AVhat is 

the Part Raised? 308 



PART I. 



THE OEIGIX OF THE SOUL, ITS COXXEC- 
TIOX AXD EELATIOX TO THE BODY. 

19 



EVERY ANIMAL ORGANISM MAY BE TRACED 
BACK TO AN ULTIMATE POINT OR BE- 
GINNING IN A FECUNDATED OVUM OR 
GERM-CELL. 

Section 1. — The Soul transmitted from Parentage at 
Fecundation. 

Section 2. — Fecundation indispensable to the Perpet- 
uation of the Vegetable Kingdom. 

THE opinion has been very generally maintained 
that Man is a compound being, consisting of Mat- 
ter and Spirit — body and mind; or, to make use of 
another form of expression: Man is a personal, spiritiTal 
being, with a physical body annexed. The personal 
form of the body and soul may be traced, in the first 
place, to a beginning, or common origin, and connec- 
tion in the germ-cell. The union and development 
of both may be followed in the course of their procedure 
into a personal form: the body formed to serve as a 
tenement and instrumentality for the use of the soul 
during life. But before entering upon the subject of 
the personal form of the soul, we must first consider 
it in reference to its origin and connection with the 
vitalized molecules that compose the germ-cell, in 
which both the body and the soul unfold together 

from the impersonal to a personal form of existence. 

21 



22 Origiis" of the Soul. 

The soul constructs the body cell by cell, beginning 
with the germ-cell at the period of fecundation. 

In what does the process of fecundation consist? 
Fecundation consists in the paternal germ-cell impart- 
ing a reproductive influence or causal agent to the 
maternal ovule. This process can take place only be- 
tween germ-cells of the opposite sex belonging to the 
same species. The exception to the last-named rule is 
exceedingly rare; and in such instances where fecun- 
dation does take place between the opposite sex of a 
different species from each other, it almost invariably 
results in hibridity of the progeny. Among all the 
numerous tribes of the animal kingdom the develop- 
ment of each animal may be traced back to a mere 
point in the ovum, or egg. Each egg contains within 
its structure a minute cell, called the germ-cell. Within 
the latter there is a small particle of opaque substance, 
known as the nucleus, which contains a smaller one, 
called the nucleolus, or germinal dot. The germ-cell, 
like all other cells of which the different tissues of the 
body are composed, consists of an enveloping membrane 
or cell-wall, inclosing a nucleus, in which is a small 
granule, or nucleolus. The nucleolus, however, is not 
always present in the cells composing the tissues. Be- 
sides the different parts of the cell to which we have 
here alluded, all recent cells (whether ovule-cells or 
whether they be cells that compose the tissues of the 
body) contain a small particle of fluid, transparent 
germinal matter called Bioplasm. All the different 



The Soul Transmitted. 23 

tissues of the body are composed of miniite cells, which 
do not present any very marked difference from the 
initial germ-cell, from which most of the cells of the 
body proceed by a course of continuous succession 
through certain modes of cell-multiplication, as by di- 
vision, germination, etc. These different modes of cell- 
formation, however, will be referred to from time to 
time as we proceed. 

Although there is no very marked physical differ- 
ence to be observed between the germ-cells and the 
cells of the tissues, yet there is evidently a very im- 
portant difference existing between these two classes 
of cells in reference to the office they fulfill in the 
animal economy. The difference to which we here 
refer consists mainly in the fact that the germ-cell 
contains within it an active causal principle necessary 
to the formation or production of the animal, a prin- 
ciple which is capable of varying the form and struc- 
ture of each animal so as to make it conform to the 
genera and species to which its parents belonged in 
the animal scale. There is in each animal, not only 
a conformity of structure suited to the genera and spe- 
cies of each, but likewise a conformity in regard to 
the intellectual endowments which characterize its 
parentage and species. Every animal bears unmistak- 
able marks of intelligence, which are suited to its own 
proper sphere of existence. The intelligence manifested 
by the different races of animals may be said to be 
one of degree rather than of kind. Accordingly there 



24 Origih of the Soul. 

is but one principle of intelligence pervading the entire 
animal kingdom; and that one is generally designated 
by the well-known appellation of Mind. As runs the 
paraphrase on the lines of Epicharmus: 

^'What sees is mind, what hears is mind; 
All beside is deaf and blind." 

We can not assume the existence of two or more 
separate and distinct principles or entities for the per- 
formance of the office of seeing or hearing without vio- 
lating one of the fundamental rules of logic; viz., that 
of supposing the existence of two separate and inde- 
pendent entities to perform the same action, which, 
one of the principles embraced in the supposition, is 
known to be capable of performing to the exclusion of 
the other. For instance, there are not two distinct 
and entirely separate entities for the office of seeing 
and hearing, one for man and one for the lower ani- 
mals. Wherever the office of seeing and hearing is 
found to exist, either in man or in the lower animals, 
there is a sentient or intellectual principle which sees 
and hears. It is not necessary, therefore, to suppose 
the existence of two entirely different entities to per- 
form the same office that one of these is known to 
be capable of performing without the aid or substitu- 
tion of the other. We are not, therefore, justified in 
the conclusion that because there is a gradation of 
intelligence pervading the entire animal scale, that in 
one instance it is Instinct that sees and hears, while 



The Soul Transmitted. 25 

in tlie other it is Intellect that sees and hears. But if 
there is only one principle of intelligence pervading the 
animal kingdom, whence is this principle derived which 
is capable of manifesting these different degrees of in- 
telligence suited to the numerous animal tribes? 

As every animal is known to proceed from a germ- 
cell, so all the powers concerned in the manifestation 
of intelligence pertaining to each must exist in the 
germ from which the animal is derived. But this state- 
ment does not hold good until after the act of fecunda- 
tion has taken place, except by a union of the paternal 
and maternal germ-cells. There is contained within 
each of these cells a particle of highly-vitalized germinal 
matter, called Bioplasm, which contains, respectively, 
the true fecundating principle of the egg, or germ-cell. 
The maternal cell, when not fecundated, invariably 
perishes, without ever manifesting the slightest indi- 
cations of passing beyond the simple cell-state; but 
after fecundation has taken place, we see within the 
germ-cell the commencement of the work of organiz- 
ing a new and independent being, closely resembling 
in structure the form of the parents which, were im- 
mediately concerned in the fecundation of the ovum. 
Hence we are led to conclude that by this process both 
parents have, in some measure, contributed to the 
formation of the new being. In what, then, does the 
process of fecundation consist? What is it that is 
added to the maternal ovule which produces such a 
remarkable change in regard to its subsequent destiny, 



26 Origii^ of the Soul. 

and which not only prevents it from perishing almost 
as soon as formed, but directly sets up the process of 
organizing a new being, endowed with a sentient prin- 
ciple capable of manifesting psychical powers in all 
respects like those of the genera and species to which 
its parents belonged? 

Prior to the act of fecundation the maternal ovule- 
cell is passive. It manifests no perceptible movement 
whatever towards the formation of an organism, while 
the spermatozoid cell furnished by the male exhibits 
a remarkable degree of activity. Whenever, therefore, 
those cells are brought into proximity and contact with 
each other, the spermatozoid cell inserts itself com- 
pletely into the ver\^ central part of the structure of 
the maternal ovule, and fecundation is the result of 
this union. Everj^thing necessary to the formation of 
the new animal is by this means added to the newly- 
fecundated germ. After fecundation has taken place, 
the respective conditions of the two cells undergo 
remarkable change. The spermatozoid cell, so active 
the moment before this occurrence, now loses its iden- 
tity, while the ovule cell puts on remarkable signs of 
activity. Prior to this union neither of the cells is 
capable of setting up the work of organizing a new 
being. Each cell contains only a part, but a very nec- 
essary part, of the principle required in the formation 
of a living animal. Hence, mthout a direct union of 
the germ-cells of the opposite sex, there could be no 
organization, sensation, nor intelligence; in short. 



The Soul Transmitted. 27 

neither body nor soul. Inasmuch, then, as the process 
of fecundation enables the maternal ovule to set up 
an independent and spontaneous work of organizing a 
new creature resembling in all respects the particular 
form and character of the parents from which it has 
been derived, and by whose combined agency the germ- 
cell was fecundated, there must be a something added 
by this operation to the maternal germ capable of set- 
ting up a new and independent work, which the cell 
itself was wholly incapable of performing prior to 
this act. 

What, then, is the principle imparted by this con- 
tact of the paternal cell with the maternal ovule, by 
which the identitv of the former is lost, while the lat- 
ter develops into a being resembling in a very marked 
degree the physical form and mental character of the 
parents? There are three separate and distinct prin- 
ciples that belong to every animal which may be taken 
into consideration in the answer to this question; viz., 
the material, the vital, and the psychical. All others — 
as the electric, the magnetic, and the calorific — ^may be 
left entirely out of the account. In the first enumera- 
tion, the corporeal enters into the composition of the 
body; the vital is generalh^ supposed to be concerned 
in the formation of the bod}^ and in its vital processes; 
while the 'psychical principle, especially in man, is sup- 
posed to be engaged in thought, feeling, emotion, will, 
etc. The existence of these principles is so generally 
admitted that the introduction of proof may be deemed 



28 Origin of the Soul. 

quite "unnecessary in this place. Indeed, the arguments 
that may be introduced to set aside the existence of 
matter are as conclusive as any that might be brought 
to bear against the existence of either of the others. 
The existence of matter can be known only by its phe- 
nomenal manifestations; and so of the others. It is 
not the material atoms simply that are added to the 
maternal ovule by the process of fecundation; for the 
ovule-cell already contained these as a necessary ingre- 
dient of its own structure. It can not be the calorific 
principle that is imparted; for this is imparted from 
one body to another, whether animate or inanimate, 
and is lost again by means of irradiation or the changes 
of temperature. It is not by imparting the electric 
or magnetic agents that fecundation is accomplished; 
for the germ-cells show no signs of magnetic or electric 
disturbance, neither before nor after their contact with 
each other. Nor is it the vital principle that is here 
added; for the principle of life already existed in the 
maternal ovule prior to the fecundating act. This is 
conclusive from the fact that an unvitalized or dead cell 
can not be fecundated. That the vital principle is ca- 
pable of existing in cells when separated from the body 
is evident from its existence in the blood after being 
drawn from the veins, and also from its separate exist- 
ence in the ivhite-dlood corpuscles before they are taken 
up hj the co-ordinating agency into the different tis- 
sues of the body. The only remaining agent to be 
considered, then, is the sentient or psychical principle. 



The Soul Transmitted. 29 

This principle we find existing in every animal tliat 
feels and sees and hears. As in the lines already re- 
ferred to, — 

"What sees is mind, what hears is mind.*' 

Nothing sees and hears but mind. The term 
"mind" we use in this connection simply as another 
name for the psychical principle. And of all the dif- 
ferent principles just referred to, the psychical principle 
is the only one that truly bears the marks of hereditary 
transmission. That this principle is not derived ex- 
clusively from one parent is evident from the fact that 
in very many instances the mental endowments of the 
offspring manifest in a very striking manner the mental 
characteristics of one parent, while in other members 
of the same family we see the mental traits of the op- 
posite parent as strongly portrayed. Thus in some 
families the offspring will in one or more instances 
manifest the peculiar mental tendencies belonging to 
the paternal side, while other members of the same 
family will exhibit strong and very striking resemblance 
to the mental peculiarities of the maternal side. That 
the forces which build the body are transmitted from 
both parents is evident from the fact that in the cross 
between the European race and the African Negro the 
skin fades and the wool changes to hair just in propor- 
tion to the amount of Caucasian blood circulating in 
the veins of the offspring; and where one of the parents, 
or both, are found to be idiotic, the transmission of the 



30 Oeigin or the Soul. 

mental deficiency is fearfully manifested in one or more, 
or in all tlieir progeny, as the case may be, in regard to 
the mental deficiency existing in one or both of the 
parents. These facts, with numerous others that might 
be cited, show that the psychical or sentient principle 
is transmitted by the laws of hereditary descent; and 
that both parents contribute to its production. In the 
case of domestic animals, such as the horse, we may 
obtain almost any disposition ^^ithin the range of the 
species by giving proper attention to the cross. This 
law holds good everywhere throughout the animal 
kingdom. We see every pair of each species transmit- 
ting to its progeny the mental character of its own spe- 
cies, and never in any instance transmitting the mental 
character belonging to a different species. Thus we 
never see the lion transmitting to its progeny the mild 
and timid disposition of either the hare or the lamb, 
nor vice versa. In accordance with this law, we always 
find each species in the animal kingdom steadily pre- 
serving its own peculiar mental character and disposi- 
tion from age to age. 

The vital principle alone nowhere shows such evi- 
dence of hereditary transmission and differentiation as 
is observed in reference to the psychical agent. The 
vital principle is the same in every moving blood-cor- 
puscle found among the different species of animals; 
while the psychical principle, as we have said, is found 
to present very striking differences of mental disposi- 
tion and traits of character in regard to every class, 



The Soul Transmitted. 31 

genus, and species found upon the earth. Each spe- 
cies has its own pecuHar mental characteristics, which 
as distinctly mark it as a species as does its bodily con- 
formation. The psychical manifestations, however 
slight in their appearance among individuals low down 
in the animal scale, bear a most striking resemblance 
to those of its own genus or species, as well as to its 
own immediate progenitors. But in man more espe- 
cially, in whom the mental powers are most manifest 
and observed, we see the mental peculiarities (often 
amounting to eccentricities of character) of one or both 
parents well marked, in different members of the off- 
spring. These striking exemplifications of character 
in the progeny (sometimes inclining to one parent, and 
sometimes to the other) could not be expected to take 
place with such frequency, if indeed at all, unless both 
parents contributed to its production. And this con- 
tribution by the parents to the production of the in- 
herent powers of the psychical agent, as exhibited in 
the progeny, could not take place except through the 
laws of hereditary descent; and these laws are estab- 
lished and set in operation only by the conjugal pro- 
cess of fecundation. That the soul begins its career 
with the body is evident from its "unfolding powers, 
beginning, as it were, at zero, and unfolding its opera- 
tions as the bod]^ unfolds — appearing in the first place 
entirely destitute of all manifestations of sensibility, 
and finally, in man, ending by a gradual process of de- 
velopment into complete rationality. As the hody is 



32 Okigin of the Soul. 

the living tenement of the sentient, personal soul, so 
the sexual or reproductive cells are the repositories of 
the impersonal, psychical agents, which unite together 
in the act of fecundation to form a personal heing. But 
the personal soul thus formed does not arise into con- 
scious personality until it has formed suitable organs 
to aid in the development of its conscious powers. 
Starting, then, with the paternal cell in the form of 
the spermatozoid, with its living protoplasm, it pene- 
trates by means of its motile force to the central part 
of the maternal ovule, where the two cells blend their 
protoplasmic contents together; and by this means the 
impersonal, psychical agents of both sexes are brought 
together, and by thus forming an indissoluble union 
in the living protoplasm of these sexual cells the per- 
sonal soul is formed. Microscopic observations show 
that as the spermatozoid enters the walls of the maternal 
germ-cell, the vitalized liquid contents of the latter 
may be seen to rise by an amoeboid movement toward the 
entering spermatozoid, thus showing a direct affinity 
between the germinal psychical contents of the unit- 
ing cells; and although the fecundated cell may con- 
tinue to be surrounded by numerous other spermatozoa 
like the one that penetrated it, there is no further 
tendency manifested between the remaining spermato- 
zoid cells to unite with the fecundated ovules. This 
is, doubtless, owing to a complete neutralization of its 
psychical cell-contents having already taken place. 
The paternal cell that imparts its impersonal psy- 



The Soul Transmitted. 33 

chical principle (which is its true germinal principle) to 
the oYule-cell is dissolved in the liquid contents of the 
latter, and thus completely loses its identity as a dis- 
tinct cell, while the fecundated ovule, which now con- 
tains all that is necessary to the formation of the future 
animal, develops into an organized being, resembling, 
both physically and mentally, the combined character- 
istics of the parents. It is mostly in consequence of the 
impersonal, psychical entity contained in the germ-cells 
of the parents that these cells are characterized as cells 
of reproduction; for without this agent as a causal en- 
ergy they would not differ very essentially from the 
other cells that compose the organism. Both the pa- 
ternal and maternal germ-cells are in possession of 
vitality before fecundation takes place; but neither of 
them possesses the slightest capability of multiplying 
into other cells, so as to form tissue, until after the 
psychical union above referred to has taken place. The 
fecundated cell, having both a vital and a psychical 
agent indissolubly united together, is now ready to 
build up an organism suited to all requirements and 
wants of the personal psychical principle that occupies 
it. Let us now devote a few moments' attention to 
the operation of these agents in the building of the 
organic structure. 

When the maternal ovule-cell is once ensouled by 

the blending of the psychical agents of the two cells, 

it immediately shows signs of great activity by the 

changes which then take place in its plasmic cell-con- 

3 



34 Oeigin^ of the Sottl. 

tents. It is now prepared to begin the work of or- 
ganizing a new being, a work which it could not have 
performed prior to the fecundating act; for the fecun- 
dated cell now contains, for the first time in its his- 
tory, all that is necessary for the perfecting of the future 
animal. Where everything is favorable — such as heat, 
moisture, etc. — it immediately commences forming a 
structure; first, by the imbibition of nutrient material 
through the cell-wall; and second, by elongating the 
nucleus of the germ-cell. The elongated nucleus di- 
vides in the middle into two daughter-cells, and these 
again divide into four, and the four into eight, and 
so on, by similar ratio of segmentation of the yolk, 
cells are multiplied almost innumerably as the work 
of organization goes on. As cells multiply, they are 
co-ordinated and woven into tissue in accordance with 
a definite plan of development suited to the forthcom- 
ing organization, which, in all cases, must correspond 
with the requirements and wants of the personal, psy- 
chical agent that occupies it, and for whose use the living 
structure is being built up. 

But in order to understand the forces concerned 
in the operations of life, we must first take into con- 
sideration certain powers of the psychical agent itself. 

It is a well-established principle, which has been 
long maintained by a very large majority of the philos- 
ophers that between matter and spirit (as between the 
non-extended soul and the body) there can be no direct 
^ or immediate relation existing, such as the relation of 



The Soul Transmitted. 35 

direct contact — action or reaction — arising between 
these diverse entities. Seeing that matter and spirit 
are essentially different entities, it is claimed by many 
that there can be no direct relation, no properties in 
common; hence no mutual intercourse can be carried 
on between the body and the soul. The teaching of 
the philosophers in this respect is undoubtedly correct, 
as between the soul and lifeless matter, as hetween the 
soul and the body, when the latter is dead. It may be 
asked, then. How can there be a relation existing 
between the psychical principle and the maternal par- 
ticles of which the ovule-cell is composed, assuming that 
the psychical principle is the true fecundating agent? 
We answer that in fecundation the psychical principle 
does not unite directly with the material particles of 
the cell, but forms a direct, indissoluble union with the 
vital principle existing in the cell; for, as already stated, 
a dead or lifeless cell can not be fecundated. In fecun- 
dation the psychical elements of each cell combine to- 
gether, and at the same time enter into complete union 
with the vital principle of the germ-cell; and thus the 
psychical agent re-enforces the vital principle with a 
new class of powers, which, prior to this union, the 
latter did not possess. The vital principle alone may 
form a cell de novo, as in the case of white-blood cor- 
puscles; but it has no power to form cells by any of the 
other modes of cell-multiplication, and hence it is with- 
out power to form tissue. In like manner, the psychical 
principle, without the aid of the vital, can form neither 



36 Oeigin of the Soul. 

cells nor tissue; for the formation of cells must pre- 
cede the formation of tissue. But when these two 
agents are united together, as when fecundation takes 
place, then, and not till then, can the germ-cell divide 
and subdivide so as to form cells, without which no 
tissue can be formed, and without the formation of 
tissue no organism could be formed. The power, then, 
which forms cells and co-ordinates them into the for- 
mation of the organism is not the work of either a 
vital force or of a psychical force alone, but is the work 
of a psycho-vital energy. The vital principle forms the 
connecting link, not only between the soul and the ovule, 
or first cell, but likewise between it and every other 
cell of which the body is composed. Of these two 
agents, therefore, the vital principle alone forms a direct 
or immediate relation with the molecules of the cells, 
while the psychical agent has an immediate relation 
only with the vital principle with which it completely 
affiliates and hence re-enforces with a new class of 
powers. There is, therefore, only a temporary and in- 
direct relation existing between the soul and the cells 
of the body, thus holding its frail tenure with the body 
through the vital link alone. 

In the formation of cells from the germ-cell the latter 
divides in the center into two, and by a similar process 
the two divide into four, and the four into eight, and so 
on, by continuous cell-multiplication, until the whole 
body is formed. The same psychical principle that was 
imparted to the germ-cell by the process of fecundation 



The Soul Tkansmitted. 3? 

extends from cell to cell, as cells are formed by means 
of the division of the vitalized contents of the germ- 
plasm; and so on from cell to cell during the formation 
of the entire body. Thns, if the paternal and the ma- 
ternal fecundating principles which formed a union in 
the germ-cell did not continue their connection from 
one cell to another, the division and formation of cells 
would immediately cease, and the organizing process 
would abruptly come to an end, and so the formation 
of both soul and body would fail to take place. There 
was a time in reference to every man when neither 
the soul nor the body existed in personal form. Both 
the soul and the body are connected together through- 
out solely by means of the myriads of cells that form 
the organism. Every cell of which the body is com- 
posed is, in a certain sense, ensouled. Accordingly we 
may say, in the language of Emerson, that "the whole 
soul is embodied, and the whole body is ensouled." 
The soul constructs the body for its own use as a tene- 
ment, which it occupies during life. Thus the soul, 
as well as the body, exists in personal form. That the 
soul is in the form of the body we expect to show 
to the ocular demonstration of every man that thinks 
and reasons; but of this in its proper place. We have 
said that every cell of which the body is composed is, 
in a certain sense, ensouled. To this rule there is but 
one well-marked exception, whidh pertains solely to 
the ovarian cells. These cells, having lost the paternal 
counterpart, contain only the maternal principles which 



38 Okigin of the Soul. 

render this class of cells susceptible of the fecundating 
process, resulting in a new and independent being simi- 
lar to that of its parentage. 

Having considered the relation of the soul to the 
vital principle, we are next brought to the considera- 
tion of the nature and character of the powers which 
the soul employs in connection with the vital principle 
in the construction of the body. For this purpose we 
divide the psychical powers into two distinct classes; 
viz., the unconscious, instinctive powers and the con- 
scious powers. The latter class of powers does not 
appear until after the sense-organs are formed and 
brought into exercise, which takes place not till after 
birth. These organs are the necessary instruments re- 
quired for the development of the percipient powers, 
which pertain to the mental class of the psychical pow- 
ers. Of the two classes of powers here referred to, the 
unconscious powers are the first to appear, because 
they are necessary in aiding the vital principle to con- 
struct the organism and carry on the movements of 
organic life. This class of powers operates instinctively, 
unconsciously, and unceasingly throughout life. It is 
generally admitted by physiologists that all the opera- 
tions of organic life are carried on by a class of in- 
stinctive movements. The instinctive operations which, 
in the first place, construct the body and at the same 
time carry on the different organic functions, can not 
be the work of the vital principle alone; for this prin- 
ciple is not capable of performing these functions in 



The Soijl Teansmitted. 39 

the germ-cell prior to its becoming fecundated, nor does 
this principle manifest any such signs or capabilities 
in the white blood-corpuscles while these are moving 
in the current of the blood, for these vitalized corpuscles 
show no signs whatever of cell multiplication, either 
by division or by germination, which is one of the 
very first and necessary steps taken in the formation 
of tissue; and without tissue-formation there can be 
no organization. These living corpuscles then show 
no such powers until they have entered the capillary 
system of blood-vessels, where they are taken up into 
the various tissues by the direct agency of the "forma- 
tive principle." We are therefore forced to the con- 
clusion that the vital principle is not the instinctive 
principle which presides over the formation of the liv- 
ing tenement. If the vital principle, then, can not 
build the body by its own direct agency, it must be 
the psychical occupant that serves as the great, in- 
stinctive artificer in the formation of its own tenement. 
If the soul is at all connected with the organism, it 
must be by means of special laws; and these laws, not 
being manifest to our consciousness, must operate 
unfelt by us. The opinion has been almost universally 
maintained that the vital principle alone builds the 
body, and that in each case, whether of individuals or 
species, it builds the organism to suit the psychical pow- 
ers which are destined to make use of it after birth. 
On the contrary, we hold that the vital principle is only 
a subordinate agent concerned in this work, and that 



40 Origin of the Soul. 

the psychical principle, which co-operates with the vital, 
is the leading factor in the formation of the organism, 
and that for the performance of this work it is endowed 
with a class of instinctive powers. Before the soul can 
attain to its higher powers it must have an organism 
with suitable sense-organs for the performance of the 
office of sensation and perception, without which there 
can be no intelligence manifested by either man or 
animal. 

We have just said that the unconscious powers of the 
soul, which are immediately concerned in building the 
body and in carrying on the functions of organic life, 
are instinctive in their nature. I would define pure 
instinct to be that power in the soul by which it em- 
ploys materials and co-ordinates them in a definite man- 
ner, without any consciousness or knowledge, on the 
part of this agent, of the materials employed in ac- 
complishing the end to which its action tends. Thus, 
in embryonic development, the animal formed is con- 
structed instinctively and unconsciously on the part 
of the agent or artificer concerned in its production. 
After the birth of the animal, however, the instinctive 
powers, which had operated unconsciously prior to this 
time, extend their operations to the preservation of the 
young animal; but these acts are not now purely in- 
stinctive: they are then supplemented by the higher, 
conscious operations of the soul, which are developed 
through tlie sense-organs of the body. Thus the beaver 
in building its dam is guided by the sense of sight in 



The Soul Transmitted. 41 

the selection of the materials necessary to its accom- 
plishment. The squirrel also is guided by its visual 
perceptions in collecting the food for the approaching 
winter. Likewise the bee, actuated by an internal and 
unconscious impulse, as soon as it is liberated from the 
egg, is directed by the sense of sight while selecting the 
honey from flower to flower, and also in its attack 
upon its enemies. The soul, then, in building the body 
and in carrying on the functions of organic life, acts 
purely instinctively ; while in the examples just re- 
ferred to in regard to its later movements, the 
animal, in selecting its food and in its protection 
from the attack of its enemies, is, in its internal, 
instinctive impulses, aided and supplemented by the 
sense of feeling, sight, hearing, etc., which consti- 
tute the necessary basis of all intelligence. There is, 
therefore, a blending of the purely instinctive opera- 
tions with the rising intelligence governing the move- 
ments of the animal. This blending of the conscious 
and unconscious acts of the soul may be observed to 
take place from the lowest animal in the scale all the 
way up to man, in whom instinctive operations be- 
come mainly overshadowed and supplemented by con- 
certed acts of intelligence. 

The division of the psychical powers into uncon- 
scious and conscious operations corresponds with the 
division of the bodily functions into those of "organic 
life^^ and those of "animal life." The former class of 
psychical powers, like the functions of organic life. 



42 Origin of the Soul. 

operate, as we have said, instinctively, unconsciously, 
and unceasingly. Having thus taken a cursory view of 
these powers in reference to their instinctive nature, 
let us now proceed to a further consideration of them 
as unconscious activities. These powers operate un- 
consciously because, in the normal state of the functions 
of "organic life," they are unfelt; but in the morbid 
operations of the cell-functions, as when the psycho- 
vital energy is obstructed or essentially retarded, these 
movements give rise to feelings of uneasiness and, 
sometimes, to a sense of chilliness, general malaise, and 
pain. The unconscious powers of the soul are, there- 
fore, immediately known and felt only as morbid mani- 
festations, while the conscious powers are best known 
and studied in their normal operations. The soul, then, 
in connection -with the vital principle, not only builds 
the organism, but in connection with the vital func- 
tions of cells serves likewise as a constant sentinel to 
warn us of any real danger that may rise in consequence 
of a disturbance of the cell-functions. That these mor- 
bid sensations, arising from the various disturbances 
of the cell functions, are purely psychical sensations, 
is evident from the fact that nothing can feel but the 
sentient principle; and hence it is this principle that is 
disturbed in its operations when morbid sensations 
arise. As the unconscious powers of the psychical agent 
differentiate their operations in the formation and 
functions of each tissue and organ, so these morbid 
sensations are found to differ according to the different 



The Soul Transmitted. 43 

tissues affected. Hence we have certain painful sen- 
sations which are peculiar to diseases of the nervous 
system, and a distinct class of sensations attending dis- 
ease of the muscular system, and still another peculiar 
to disturbances of the mucous tissue, and yet others 
denoting disease of the osseous tissue; while there is 
a distinct order of painful feelings attending disease 
of the different glandular organs of the body, and still 
another pertaining to lancinating pains attending in- 
flammation of the serous membranes. These facts all 
tend to confirm our views in regard to the innate and 
instinctive relation of the soul to the vital principle 
of the cells, and through them to all the different parts 
and functions of organic life. In health these powers 
operate unconsciously, because they are unfelt, while 
in disease they are disturbed or perverted in their ac- 
tion; hence they give rise to those feelings of uneasi- 
ness which constitute the morbid sensations of ^^or- 
ganic life." 

We become conscious of the higher operations of 
the soul only through the sense-organs of the body, as 
when these are present and their functions normal. 
On the other hand, we are made conscious of the purely 
instinctive or lower operations of the soul only through 
the cells which compose the different tissues of our 
bodily organs, as when their functions are abnormally 
disturbed. [N'ot that the disease itself is in the soul, 
but in the cells, as when the latter are not receiving a 
sufficient or healthy supply of nutrient material from 



44 Origin or the Soul. 

the blood, or when injured by some poisonous agent 
that may tend to disturb the action of the psycho-vital 
force operating within the cells. As has been remarked, 
if the soul is connected with the organism at all, it must 
be by means of certain laws, which in health operate 
smoothly, silently, instinctively, and unconsciously, but 
when this class of laws belonging to the sentient prin- 
ciple is obstructed or essentially disturbed by disease, 
the effect becomes, as it were, grating and painful, thus 
furnishing the physician with the best means of diag- 
nosing the different forms of disease. If the sentient 
principle, which alone feels pain, were not intimately 
connected with all the different functions of organic 
life, it would not stand as the ready sentinel to signal 
pain whenever the functions of the different organs 
are disturbed. Upon no other principle can we form 
a true theory of pain but upon the theory that the 
psychical powers are concerned in the performance of 
cell-functions, and are awake to all their disturbing 
influences. 

We have stated that the psychical powers, which act 
in connection with the vital principle in the formation 
of the organism and in the performance of the different 
cell-functions, are instinctive, unconscious, and unceas- 
ing in their operations; and, having considered them 
in reference to the two former, we shall now consider 
them in reference to the latter. That these powers are 
unceasing in their operations will appear evident from 
the fact that they neither intermit nor terminate their 



The Soul Transmitted. 45 

activities, except at the cessation of the vital functions; 
and these functions do not cease their action until the 
connection between the soul and the body terminates; 
for as long as the body retains the soul, the powers of 
life will continue to operate. Accordingly as the vital- 
ized ovule-cell was not capable of forming the organism 
until after it had been fecundated or re-enforced by 
the addition of the psychical principle, so upon the 
withdrawal of this principle from the cells of the or- 
ganism the vital operations at once and forever ter- 
minate their action; for the tody without the soul is dead. 
Hence, if the body without the soul is dead — i. e., loses 
its functions — the soul must be intimately concerned 
with the operation of those functions. 

Inasmuch as the human organism is composed of 
numerous and widely different tissues and organs, each 
of which is capable of performing a separate function 
from the other, and yet all contributing to the welfare 
of the whole body, it is evident that the principle, what- 
ever it may be, that forms the body and maintains its 
varied functions, must be one of a differentiating kind — 
one that is capable of exerting different powers suited 
to the formation of the different organs, and to the 
maintenance of their respective functions. That the 
vital principle has no such differentiating power as is 
manifested in the numerous bodily functions, would ap- 
pear evident from the fact that this principle, when 
existing alone, as in the unfecundated cell, can neither 
multiply cells nor form tissue, without which there can 



46 Oeigix of the Soul. 

be no performance of cell functions. As we have stated, 
the body without the soul is dead; so the only agent of 
Vhich we have any knowledge that is capable at the 
same moment of exerting different powers is the psy- 
chical principle. That this principle is capable of differ- 
entiating its powers, is evident from the different powers 
manifested by the numerous faculties of intelligence, 
such as seeing^ hearing, feeling, perception, memory, 
will, etc. These powers are so distinctive in their char- 
acter, that no one of them can perform the office of the 
other — the eye can not hear, nor the ear see, neither 
can any one of the foregoing percipient powers perform 
the office of the will power. If the psychical principle 
is capable of differentiating its conscious operations into 
faculties of intelligence corresponding with the different 
phenomena of the world around it, why not the uncon- 
scious powers differentiate their operations so as to cor- 
respond, as a causal energy, with the different organs 
of the body and with their respective cell functions, 
thus forming by its union with the vital principle of 
the cells of the different organs w^hat may be called a 
Vital Faculty, or vital group of faculties? As the con- 
scious powers of the soul differentiate into the mental 
group of faculties, so the unconscious operations may be 
said to differentiate into a vital group of powers, suited 
to the different organs and functions of "organic life.^^ 
As Mr. Addison has well observed (Spectator, No. 600), 
'^What we call the faculties of the soul are only the 
different ways or modes in which the soul can exert 



The Soul Teansmitted. 47 

herself.'^ Accordingly, we would define the nnconscions 
powers of the soul, which operate in connection with 
the vital principle in the performance of the various 
functions of organic life, the Vital Faculties, or, in the 
language of Addison, the different ways or modes in 
which the soul is capable of exerting itself. 

As the conscious powers require certain organs for 
their manifestations and development, so the uncon- 
scious powers, being primary, form the requisite organs 
suited to the development of the lower class of functions. 
The conscious and the unconscious psychical powers 
are always found to preserve a corresponding parallelism 
towards each other. The latter, as an instinctive class, 
constructs the organs necessary to the development and 
exercise of the former. If one class of the psychical 
powers is capable of making use of the organs of the 
body when formed, where is the inconsistency of con- 
ceiving another class of psychical powers capable of 
forming the organs? In every instance we find only 
such organs formed as the conscious powers of the ani- 
mal require. For example, if we descend to the bottom 
of the animal scale, where there is no power in the 
animal to see or hear, there is formed neither eye nor 
ear. But in ascending the scale, wherever there is a 
psychical power added to a species, there is forthwith 
an organ formed suited to its manifestation. So that 
in all cases the body is formed to suit the requirements 
and wants of the psychical occupant. The organs of 
each animal are in every instance differentiated by the 



48 Origin of the Soul. 

iinconseioiis, instinctive powers of the psychical agent 
to suit the conscious powers of the animal. In perfect 
accordance with these adaptations, we find the claws of 
the eagle are best suited to the wants of its psychical 
nature. The paws and teeth of the lion are best adapted 
to his ferocious character; while the hands of man are 
adapted only to the psychical requirements of man. So 
perfectly do the laws of the soul operate in furnishing 
organs to suit its own conscious, psychical requirements, 
that a want of adaptation in this respect is rarely wit- 
nessed in any part of the animal kingdom. 

If the soul did not form the body, we should be 
under the necessity of supposing that another agent 
formed it, differentiating the organs in every instance 
to suit the differentiation of the psychical powers of 
each animal belonging to the different species. Con- 
sidered in this light, the soul, having no causal relation 
to the body, must, when the latter is fully formed, or 
while it is forming, make a forcible entry into it, occupy- 
ing it as a tenement just so long as the agent that 
formed it is capable of maintaining it in suitable repair. 
On the other hand, it is much more rational to conclude 
that the soul participates in the formation of the body, 
occupies it as a tenement, and makes use of it as an in- 
strumentality. If it has a certain class of powers by 
which it can use the body, has it not a certain class by 
which it can form it? 

It may be considered a wise provision, indeed, that 
the soul is not consciously connected with the vital func- 



The Soul Transmitted. 49 

tions of the body, except when these are interfered with 
by disease; for could we feel the action of the heart at 
each throb, and the beating of every artery in the body, 
together with the secretory action of these untold mill- 
ions of cells which compose the glandular structures 
of the various parts of the organism, the subjective sen- 
sations arising from these causes would so engross the 
attention of the mind as to render our whole life miser- 
able, if not altogether insupportable. To avoid disturb- 
ances of this kind, a certain class of the powers of the 
soul are endowed with unconscious powers of action, 
so as to operate entirely unfelt, while another class are 
left free and undisturbed in their conscious exercises. 
The body is so forlned as to serve, not only as a 
suitable tenement for the soul, but likewise as a ready 
instrumentality for the performance of its numerous re- 
quirements. All the functions of organic life are carried 
on by the psycho-vital powers, which operate with 
greatest energy at the center of each cell; and the cells 
of the different tissues have been so differentiated as to 
suit the requisite functions of each part of the organic 
structure. It matters not whether it is the work of 
forming a new cell to take the place of one that has just 
been retired on account of its wornout condition, or 
whether it is the work of the various secretions of the 
different organs of the body, or for carrying on the still 
higher acts of perception and intelligence, — all the vari- 
ous functions of the body are performed, by cells espe- 
cially formed for these several purposes. Thus we have 
4 



50 Origin of the Soul. 

transparent cells formed in the retina for the ready re- 
ception of the light in the performance of visual per- 
ception; cells formed in the auditory nerves adapted 
to the vibrations of the acoustic waves that enter the 
ear; cells formed in the olfactory nerves for the speedy 
reception or taking up of the odorous particles that per- 
vade the atmosphere; cells formed in the lingual nerves 
which are perfectly adapted to the ready admission of 
flavoring particles that may come in contact with the 
tongue to aid in the performance of the sense of taste; 
and cells formed in the nervous papillae of the hand 
adapted to the gentle pressure of the fingers in the 
performance of tactile sensibility. Likewise we have 
cells formed in certain parts of the nervous system for 
the performance of muscular motions. Thus the un- 
conscious, involuntary powers of the soul form cells, 
which are decomposed by the will-power, so as to set 
at liberty a subtle, chemical agent, which, following the 
voluntary nerves to the muscles, results in the action 
of the muscles under the control of the will. By this 
means the functions of organic life prepare the neces- 
sary material for the performance of the operations of 
conscious or "animal life." The chemical agents con- 
tained in certain cells are thus made to serve as corpo- 
real correlates of the will. The conscious powers of the 
soul, therefore, depend upon the faithful performance 
of its instinctive, unconscious operations. Without the 
performance of the first class of psychical powers, the 
conscious powers would fail to make their appearance. 



The Sofl Teansmitted. 51 

There is still another class of cells, as the OYule 
cells, which we have seen are necessary for the repro- 
duction and continuance of the species. The body is 
thus formed in all respects to subserve the wants and 
requirements of the psychical occupant that formed it. 

Of all the different agents or principles found in 
the body, it is the personal soul only that bears evidence 
of transmission from parents to offspring. The body 
itself is not, properly speaking, hereditary; for the par- 
ticles which compose it are collected from the scattered 
elements of the world; but the Power that formed it 
is hereditary, and so builds the body to conform closely 
to the likeness, character, and predisposition of the 
parents to which, the individual owes his existence, both 
soul and body — to the soul directly, and to the body 
indirectly. It is to the unconscious, instinctive powers 
of the soul that we are indebted for the stamina or lon- 
gevity, as well as for all that is implied in the technical 
phrase, vis medicatrix naturce, pertaining to every living 
organism. Assimilation and disassimilation are inces- 
santly carried on from moment to moment, whether 
awake or asleep. The unconscious powers perform the 
work of assimilation, while the conscious operations, as 
in the case of the will-power, are exerted in the decom- 
position of motor cells, to subserve the purposes of the 
soul in carrying on the locomotive movements of the 
body from place to place. As the supply in health must 
always equal the demand, assimilation and disassimila- 
tion — nutrition and waste — are more nearly balanced 



52 Okigin" of the Soul. 

at that period of life when the energies and require- 
ments of the soul in reference to the agents employed 
in the use of the body are greatest. 

Suited to the different requirements of the body, 
each organ is endowed with a special function, and, as 
we have said, with a separate and distinct latent sensi- 
bility, which becomes aroused to a conscious recognition 
whenever the psycho-vital functions of any of the or- 
gans are seriously disturbed or obstructed in their func- 
tions. It is on account of the relation of the powers 
of the soul to the different organs, that every organ has 
its own peculiar susceptibility to be influenced or af- 
fected by certain therapeutic agents, when these are 
dissolved in the circulating current of the blood. Thus 
a medicinal agent may pass through different organs of 
the body without exciting any perceptible effect upon 
their functions until it reaches the organ whose latent 
sensibility becomes therapeutically influenced by its 
presence. These hitherto mysterious facts find their 
most ready and satisfactory explanation by the admis- 
sion that there is a sentient principle which builds the 
body, and operates in health unconsciously in the se- 
creting cells of the different organs. This class of 
powers is therefore excited to organic sensibility when 
the differentiated energies of the soul in the several 
organs are influenced by the presence of some special 
therapeutic agent in the blood. Bach one of the in- 
ternal organs of the body, like the different sense organs, 
has its own peculiar adaptation to certain stimuli; just 



The Soul Transmitted. 53 

as light may affect the optic nerve in visual perception 
without arousing the latent organic sensibility of any 
of the other nerves of the eye, except in those instances 
where the light is intense, or where the organ is in- 
flamed. In the latter case the latent, organic sensibility 
is often aroused to a painful degree. As the auditory 
nerve is only adapted to sound, so likewise the different 
secretory organs of the body may each become affected 
by certain stimuli in the blood without our being con- 
scious of their presence, except when the organ is dele- 
teriously influenced or injured by the poisonous effect 
of certain agents, in which case it may give rise to in- 
tense pain. But in all cases of inflammation of a sepa- 
rate organ or tissue, the pain caused by a disturbance 
of its natural function will be found to differentiate in 
character so as to correspond distinctively with the na- 
ture of the tissue affected, agreeing in this respect with 
the differentiation of the formative principle or psycho- 
vital force acting within it. 

We are led to conclude from facts like these that 
the sentient principle is a leading factor in the construc- 
tion of the body, and in the maintenance of its different 
functions; that it is present in every part, and that, for 
the most part, it operates insensibly in the organs of 
"organic life," but acts sentiently and consciously in 
the organs of "animal life." If the soul by one class 
of its powers builds the body, and so differentiates the 
parts of each animal organism to suit the requirements 
and wants of its own conscious life, it must for like 



54 Origin of the Sotil. 

reason be capable of differentiating the whole animal 
kingdom into genera and species. It must differentiate 
the structure of the numerous tribes^ so as to suit the 
psychical requirements of each species. And as the 
psychical manifestations are found to differ in all the 
departments of the animal kingdom, so the structure 
of each species is observed to differ in strict accordance 
with the requirements and wants of the indwelling agent 
that builds each individual structure as a suitable tene- 
ment for its own habitation and use. 

Viewed in the light of the foregoing, we are in- 
debted to the psychical principle, not only for every- 
thing that pertains to our own special psychology, but 
also for all that belongs to the great domain of com- 
parative anatomy, comparative physiology, and com- 
parative psychology. We are therefore indebted to this 
sentient agent for all the different orders of the animal 
kingdom; for everything that pertains to their anatomy, 
their physiology, and their psychology. Every anatom- 
ical structure, every physiological movement, and every 
psychological manifestation, is the exclusive product of 
some individual soul, either man or animal. There is 
no general law in the universe capable of producing 
a single physiological action or psychical manifesta- 
tion. Accordingly, every anatomical structure, every 
physiological action, every psychical manifestation, ob- 
served anywhere, pertains to an individual organism, 
and may be traced back directly or indirectly to a spe- 
cial act of fecundation. Each fecundating principle 



Fecundation Indispensable. 55 

among the different tribes seems to be capable of form- 
ing a structure and performing functions suited to its 
own special grade of intelligence from the lowest order 
of animated beings to the highest animal in the scale. 
All the facts which we have thus far advanced in 
support of our views in regard to the formation of the 
body, tend to strengthen the position announced at the 
outset, that the "formative principle^^ which co-ordi- 
nates the structure of each animal, is furnished at the 
fecundation of the germ; that it is an hereditary prin- 
ciple; that it is a sentient principle; that it unites with 
the vital principle in the formation of cells; that it is 
an instinctive principle; that it is a co-ordinating prin- 
ciple; and that it is a differentiating principle, as seen in 
its differentiating powers manifested by the numerous 
faculties of intelligence. For, if its conscious powers 
are capable of differentiating into distinct faculties of 
intelligence, why not the unconscious powers be capable 
of differentiating the parts to suit the functions neces- 
sary to the support of its living tenement? We have 
seen that the vital principle alone is not capable of mul- 
tipl3dng cells from the germ cell, and co-ordinating 
them into tissue. Hence we know of no other principle 
which possesses differentiating powers, but the psychical. 

Section II. Fecundation indispensable to the perpet- 
uation of the vegetable kingdom. 

Let us now direct our attention for a short time 
to the only remaining class of living structures with 



66 Okigin of the Soul. 

which we are acquaMed; viz., the vegetable. Here 
we shall find, as in the case of the animal kingdom, 
that the artificer which builds up the structure of each 
plant is furnished to the germ-cell by the process of 
fecundation, which process, like the animal germ, re- 
quires the direct contact of the sexual cells of the plants 
for its accomplishment; for, as in the case of the ani- 
mal, it is not till after fecundation has taken place that 
the germ-cell of the plant begins to absorb nutrient 
material from the elements of the inorganic kingdom, 
by which cells are multiplied in the germination of 
the plant from the seed. As first stated, as the multi- 
plication of cells takes place, they are co-ordinated into 
the growth of the structure of the plant; and, as in 
the case of the germ-cell of the animal, so in regard 
to the germ of the plant, the germ-cell must be in a 
vitalized condition before it can be fecundated by the 
male flower; for, as already stated in regard to the ani- 
mal germ, a dead cell can not de fecundated. This will 
serve to confirm the truth of the former statement, 
that the fecundating principle is not the vital principle, 
and the psychical principle and vital principle must 
unite in the germ before the vegetating process can 
take place. Aristotle was the first, I believe, to advo- 
cate the doctrine that there is a vegetable soul as well 
as an animal soul, and that, as in the case of the animal, 
so in regard to the vegetable, the vegetable soul governs 
the growth of the plant. It not only co-ordinates the 
growth of each plant, but likewise differentiates the 



Fecundation Indispensable. 57 

vegetable kingdom into species, and, as in the ease of 
the animal kingdom, maintains the stability of the 
vegetable species from age to age. 

There is, likewise, in the growth of the vegetable 
an instinctive principle present which directs the for- 
mation of the plant, similar to that which we find tak- 
ing place in the growth of animals. In proof of the 
similarity of the two principles here alluded to, the 
instinctive agency concerned in the gTOwth of the plant 
frequently shows unmistakable signs of sensibility crop- 
ping out, as seen in the case of the Mimosa, or sensi- 
tive plant, thus showing conclusively the sentient na- 
ture of the principle that forms the vegetable struc- 
tures. If, indeed, we descend to the lowest point of 
the animal scale, we shall there find only instinct and 
sensibility cropping out. At this point, therefore, the 
two kingdoms of nature are so closely allied to each 
other that it is often difficult for the naturalist to dis- 
tinguish one from the other. Perhaps the best defi- 
nition that has been given to distinguish the plant 
from the animal is that which was given by Linnaeus: 
"Plants live and grow;" "Animals live, grow, and feel." 
It is only as we ascend from the lowest point in the 
animal scale that we see a gradual advancement in re- 
gard to the sentient principle from that of mere sensi- 
bility up to the highest order of intellectual attainment, 
as observed in man. There is undoubtedly a great 
similarity existing between the vital agents concerned 
in the production of both animals and plants. This 



58 Okigin of the Soul. 

will appear more striking when we consider that the 
growth of both proceeds alike from the formation of 
cells, and when we consider the fact that the vital 
operations in the plant serve rather the purpose of a 
necessary food-producer for the support of the animal 
Idngdom. In the plant, the organic elements are raised 
to their first degree of vitalization for the supply of 
food required for the existence of the animal races. 
In this respect many of the lower races of animals ap- 
pear to serve, in a great measure, simply as food-pro- 
ducers for the higher orders. Inasmuch, then, as in- 
stinct and sensibility are found in the plant, as well 
as in the animal, it is but reasonable to conclude that 
the co-ordinating principle is similar in both, and that 
the difference between them is more a difference in 
degree than one of kind. In like manner we find the 
co-ordinating principle among the different animal races 
to be one of degree rather than one of a wholly-distinct 
nature. Inasmuch, therefore, as the animal organiza- 
tion can not be maintained without the vegetable, and 
inasmuch as both are formed by the operations of life, 
beginning at the fecundation of the germ-cell, there 
must be a very close causal relation existing between 
them in regard to the principle that co-ordinates the 
two structures. Thus like powers proceed from like 
causes. 

But we must here digress a little to consider some 
questions which have been supposed to present insur- 
mountable difficulties in regard to the connection of 



Fecundatiox Ixdispexsable, 59 

the soul with the body. Proceeding on purely meta- 
physical grounds, the metaphysician will ask, How can 
the immaterial, non-extended soul, which is supposed 
to have no properties in common with matter — that 
which is believed to be destitute of the property of ex- 
tension — how can it form a union with the extended, 
so as to occupy the entire bod}' — the parts as well as 
the whole — in such a manner as would be requisite and 
necessary in order for the soul to form the body, act- 
ing and working in each part as well as in the whole? 
We stated in the outset of our remarks that the soul 
has no properties by which it can form a direct rela- 
tion and connection with lifeless matter; that it has no 
properties of its own by which it can unite with the 
body except through the agency of a vital link, con- 
necting it with each and every cell of which the body 
is composed. It is a well-known fact that whenever the 
vital link connecting the soul with one of the cells is 
severed, the disconnected cell is thrown off from the 
body as dead; so whenever the connection of the soul 
with all the cells is severed, as in death, the soul loses 
its relation to the whole body, and all the vital func- 
tions upon which that connection directly depended 
immediately and forever cease to operate; for the body 
witJiont the soul is dead. In order, then, to bridge over 
the seeming difficulty of two diverse entities — one 
extended and the other non-extended — each being pos- 
sessed of properties totally unlike the other, and yet 
uniting together as in the living body, Descartes held 



60 Obigin^ of the Soul. 

that, in animals, the soul was connected with the body 
only at a single point, which point, he maintained, was 
the pineal gland — a small prominence of nerve-substance 
situated near the central part of the base of the brain. 
As the essence of matter, according to Descartes, is 
extension, and the essence of mind is thought, he sup- 
posed that there could be no union between such di- 
verse entities as these; hence all intercourse between 
the soul and the body must be carried on at a single 
point of the latter; or, as Leibnitz taught, by a pre- 
established harmony existing between the operations 
of the body on the one side and the operations of mind 
on the other; or again, as Malebranche, who was him- 
self a Cartesian, affirmed, that all intercourse between 
the soul and the body was carried on by the direct 
agency of the Deity. Since the time of Descartes phi- 
losophers and physiologists have extended this point 
of connection somewhat by extending the operations of 
the mind to the whole brain, but allowing no immediate 
connection beyond this organ with other parts of the 
body, except by means of nerve-cords for the transmis- 
sion of impressions to the brain, and for the transmis- 
sion of volitions to the muscles. Dr. Carpenter locates 
the seat of consciousness at the special nerve-centers, 
which are situated at the base of the brain. Below 
this point, it is alleged by physiologists generally that 
the soul or mind has no immediate or known connec- 
tion with the lower parts of the body, except as it is 
carried on by means of nerve-cords connecting the 



Fecundation Indispensable. 61 

brain and mind with all other parts of the organism. 
It is claimed by physiologists that the soul or mind is 
not 'present at the outer extremities of the nerves of 
the body, but that its immediate presence is limited 
to the cerebral extremities of the nerves, where it is 
claimed by them that all our perceptions take place. 
As the sentient principle, according to this hypothesis, 
is not present in the outer extremities of the nerves, 
and as the act of perception can take place only where 
the mind is present, it is limited to the brain, and 
not in the external organs of sense. Claiming that the 
soul is limited in all its acts to the brain, the philoso- 
phers and physiologists maintain that external objects 
produce impressions upon the outer extremities, or 
senses, which impressions are transmitted along the 
course of the nerve-cords to the brain, and are there 
perceived by the mind. For instance, in vision we do 
not perceive objects directly, say the philosophers; but 
how, it may be asked, can external objects be depicted 
and represented in light and its delicate colors by the 
nerve in the dark chamber of the cranium — the sup- 
posed seat of the soul — where it is utterly impossible 
for light and colors to penetrate through the small 
foramen through which the optic nerve enters the 
opaque structure of the cranium before reaching the 
brain and mind? Taking the common supposition that 
the mind resides exclusively in the brain, we are forced 
to the conclusion that we do not perceive external ob- 
jects on the retina, where they are represented in pic- 



63 Origin of the Soul. 

tures of light, but that light and colors are perceived 
within the dark chamber of the cranium, where neither 
light nor colors can have any existence whatever. By 
parity of reasoning, it is claimed by the advocates of 
this theory that we do not hear sound in the external 
ear, but at the ganglionic center, near the medulla ob- 
longata, where the auditory nerves terminate. At this 
point, where the brain connects with the spinal col- 
umn, it is evident that no sound exists, except, perhaps, 
the throbbing of arteries; and even these, in the normal 
state of the circulation, are not heard. In accordance 
with these views, it is claimed by modern theorists, 
that these nerve-centers are the true and only seat of 
our sensations and conscious perceptio7is. What we have 
said of sight and hearing may, mutatis mutandis, be 
said of the remaining organs of sense. According to 
the theoiy of perception herein presented and generally 
maintained, we do not perceive the external world im- 
mediately. We perceive nothing but certain impres- 
sions made on the outer extremities of the nerves of 
sense, which impressions are conveyed by these nerves 
to the seat of the soul. According to this very preva- 
lent theory of perception, we do not perceive the ex- 
ternal world at all; we perceive only certain physiological 
phantasms, or impressions of the center of our nervous 
system. If we perceive nothing exterior to the center 
of the nervous system, and at this point can perceive 
only "impressions," the existence of an external world 
can not be established beyond mere conjecture. Such 



Fecundation Indispensable. 63 

is the dilemma in regard to the philosophy of percep- 
tion to which the advocates of this theory are driven 
in attempting to restrict the action of the mind solely 
to the ganglionic centers of the brain. 

Those who maintain that the psychical powers are 
limited to the brain and cavity of the cranium, the 
mind being separated from the phenomena of the world 
by the length of the nerve-cords, are forced to take 
refuge in one or other of the forms of idealism which 
agitated the philosophical world during the early part 
of the present century. The advocates of the theory 
that the soul is limited to the brain have based a sys- 
tem of idealism upon the supposed functions of the 
nervous system. Upon the attempt thus to limit the 
operations of the soul to certain parts of the body, 
Sir William Hamilton has very truly remarked that 
those who hold that the soul is connected with the body 
only at a single point simply increase the difficulty 
which they had intended to avert. The difficulty, says 
he, is not less by supposing that the non-extended soul 
is connected only to a certain part than by the view 
that it is connected with every part. In his strictures 
upon this point, Sir Wm. Hamilton, who was undoubt- 
edly the most erudite metaphysician of the present cen- 
tury, indorses the views of Aristotle, "that the soul 
occupies the whole body, and that it matters little 
whether we say the soul contains the body or the body 
contains the soul." * It is very evident that the soul 

*Sir William Hamilton's lectures on "Metaphysics," pp. 271-358, 
etal. 



64 Origin of the Soul. 

could not make use of the body unless it was in some 
way connected with it; and if it must be connected 
with it in some part^ why not with every part? There 
is no more difficulty arising from the supposition that 
the soul is connected with every cell than there is in 
the supposition that it is connected with but one cell. 
Having made this digression to notice some of the 
difficulties arising from the supposition that the soul 
is directly united only to some favored or particular 
part of the organism, or to a single point, as the case 
may be, let us return to the question, How can the 
immaterial, non-extended soul unite with matter so as 
to occupy every part of the extended organism? We 
have already stated that the psychical principle has no 
direct relation with the molecules of matter, except 
where these are vitalized by the living principle. To 
establish a connection between the soul and the body, 
there must be a direct relation and affiliation between 
the psychical principle and the vital principle contained 
in the cells of the body. That there is a separate vital 
principle capable of entering into an immediate rela- 
tion with the molecules of the cell is evident from the 
well-known fact that the blood-corpuscles show signs 
of life after having been drawn from the veins, and 
even after the blood has been frozen. It is evident, 
therefore, that there are two distinct agents existing in 
the living body: the vital principle, which exists in cer- 
tain cells before they are taken up into the tissue, and 
the psychical principle, which can manifest itself only 



Fecundation" Indispensable. 65 

in a living, organized structure after the tissues have 
been formed. We say, in a Hving, organized structure; 
for the psychical principle, unlike the vital, can show 
no signs whatever of its presence in the blood-corpuscles. 
It is only after the body is formed, and when in con- 
nection with the vital agent, that the psychical prin- 
ciple can manifest itself and hold a relation with the 
body. In every living creature these agents are -first 
brought together in the germ-cell by the process of 
fecundation. A dead cell can not be fecundated, nor 
can a living cell unfecundated multiply into other cells 
by division of its contents. The vital principle, when 
acting in a separate capacity, can form a cell-corpuscle 
de novo in the blood; the psychical principle can not. 
But when these agents are once united together in the 
germ, in which their separate powers are blended to- 
gether, they can then, and not till then, form tissue 
from the vitalized plasm of the blood, and arrange the 
different tissues into a complex, organic form. The 
vital principle is not the co-ordinating force that gives 
form to the physical structure. This power belongs to 
the psychical agent, whose use alone the living tene- 
ment is destined to subserve. The vital principle 
alone can not form tissue, nor the psychical alone form 
cells; but when their powers are united together, as 
in fecundation, they can readily form both. The power 
that forms the body, then, is not simple, but com- 
pound. We have therefore denominated the ^^forma- 
tive principle" of the body psycho-vital force. Prior 
5 



66 Oeigin of the Soijl. 

to the union of these principles, the psychical principle 
is a simple^, non-extended entity; but after its union 
with the vital principle it is compound, consisting of 
two entities. By this union the physical principle ac- 
quires the property of extension on account of its unit- 
ing with an agent having a relation to matter; it ac- 
quires one of the properties of matter — a property per- 
manent in material entities, but accidental in regard 
to the soul. The soul obtains two coverings by its 
union with the cells of the body: the vital and the 
m'aterial. The latter is thrown off at the death of the 
structure. The former remains permanently united with 
the psychical. But more of this anon. Indeed, we 
may say that a somewhat similar separation takes place 
continually, but upon a smaller scale, as when cells 
lose their connection with the vital force and are im- 
mediately carried out of the body; but these are soon 
replaced by the continual process of assimilation. 

When fecundation takes place, the impersonal 
psychical contained in the germ-cells of the parents 
unite into one on account of the merging of the cell- 
contents together. The personal soul is thus formed 
by the merging of the plasmic contents of the two 
cells into, as it were, the smallest point of matter. But 
as the fecundated cell soon divides in the middle into 
two, the vital agents that divide it remain within the 
liquid contents of the two daughter-cells, and divide 
these in turn by similar process into four, and these 
again into eight, and so on until the whole body is 



Fecundation^ Indispensable. 67 

formed by the extension of the principles that divided 
the first cell. Thus the soul, by uniting with the ex- 
tended, becomes itself extended, taking form and de- 
veloping in power as the body is formed. It is not 
till the body is completed in its formation that the 
remaining powers, as the mental, take their rise through 
the gradual exercise of the senses. As the psycJio-vital 
powers form tissue, the extension of these forces go 
on pari passu with the extension of the tissues. But 
the psychical agent, by its gi'adual extension, in unit- 
ing cell to cell with the vital, acquires only one of the 
properties of matter; viz., extension. This property, 
accidentally acquired by its union with the vital prin- 
ciple, is unaccompanied by the law of impenetrahility j 
for the vital agent, not possessing such a property it- 
self, can not confer it upon another, so as to clothe the 
soul with the remaining properties of matter. While 
the cells may be subject to division, on account of the 
law of impenetrability which pertains to the particles 
of matter, the '^formative principle" as a causal energy, 
is not thus subject to mutilation and parceling out as 
in case" of the former. In the amputation of a limb 
the surgeon only separates the cells that compose the 
limb from each other and from their causal energies 
without necessarity destro5dng those energies. When 
the soul is separated from the whole body, or from a 
part of it, it can not build for itself another body, nor 
build another limb. To form for itself a body, it must, 
in every case, begin al) ovo, and develop with the body 



68 Origin of the Sottl. 

from the fecundated egg. Neither can the soul, in 
building the body, abandon its work to go back and 
start anew. The operations of life proceed, by a gradual 
evolution of powers, from a simple cell to the complex 
structure of the animal. When the breach of contin- 
uity, however, is not great, it may extend its operations 
so as to pick up the work which has been disturbed or 
interfered with, and restore the part injured; but in 
taking up the extra work it can not abandon with 
impunity the work of other parts of the organism. In 
regard to the law of impenetrability, it may be said that 
matter is impenetrable to matter only, while spirit is 
impenetrable only to spirit. Impenetrability is the 
power a tody possesses of filling space to the exclusion of 
another of UTce properties. The soul, not having this 
property of matter, does not displace the body; and, 
for like reasons, the body does not displace the soul. 
The soul acts in a causal relation to the body, so that 
the arrangement of the particles of the latter is the 
effect of the operations of one class of the psychical 
laws, as the unconscious, instinctive. The soul exists 
in connection with the body, then, as cause; the body 
and its physiological functions are the effects of this 
cause. When the surgeon applies his knife in the am- 
putation of a limb, the knife divides the structure of 
which the limb is composed, because the law of im- 
penetrability exists between the surgeon's knife and 
the limb; but the knife, for the want of such relation 
to the cause, can not dismember the soul. It only re- 



Fecundation Indispensable. 69 

moves the physiological effect from the cause, and ren- 
ders the latter inoperative by removing the cells in 
which alone the causal energies were operative. The 
soul exists in the personal form of the body. We do 
not rest simply upon speculation alone in making this 
statement, but we expect to demonstrate this fact pres- 
ently by the generally admitted and unshaken foun- 
dations of science (by such data as we are compelled to 
resort to in demonstrating the form of the body), for 
we expect to conduct the reader to certain portals of 
the soul which have been strangely neglected and al- 
most entirely unexplored. 

The powers of the soul unfold by a gradual process 
of evolution, beginning its individuality and personal 
life in the fecundated cell. Its first act in the cell is 
to cause an increase of the contents of the cell by the 
imbibition of vitalized, nutrient material which is sup- 
plied from the living plasm of the blood. Being thus 
supplied with the principles of life and matter from the 
world, it constructs a body suited to its own use and 
requirements, which is formed out of these materials 
by a gradual process of evolution. If the soul exists 
as a real entity — and that it does, no one can seriously 
call in question — how is this principle or entity supplied 
in the process of its own development from a mere 
point on the germ-cell to its full completion as a per- 
sonal, psychical being? At the first moment of its 
existence the personal soul receives a lodgment in a 
mere point or dot of the germ-cell, having only an in- 



70 Origix of the Soul. 

stinctive energy in the first place, but gradually acquir- 
ing form, dimension, and powers of intelligence as it 
advances towards maturity. Beginning, therefore, with 
the manifestations of instinct only, the soul gradually 
and ultimately acquires powers of intelligence and rea- 
soning. The former exists in the first place actually, 
the others only potentially, but become actual in their 
existence through the exercise of the bodily senses. 
The body develops from a germ-cell by the gradual 
unfolding of its structure. In like manner, the soul 
unfolds its powers by a similar process of evolution. 
The soul, therefore, has a beginning as well as the body. 
It must, like the body, receive an adequate support in 
order to supply the psychic principle to the untold 
millions of men and animals which have from time to 
time existed upon the surface of the globe, all possess- 
ing a sentient existence, but with variable degrees of 
intelligence. 

To supply this want, ^^here is/' says Mons. Quesne, 
"a fluid diffused throughout all nature, animating 
equally all living and organized beings. . . . The 
difference which appears in their multiplied actions 
comes of their particular organization.'' He holds that, 
while the body dies, the fluid does not; the organization 
perishes, but not the psychical fluid. This principle 
believed to exist in nature has received the name of 
PsycJiism^ from its supposed nature and relation to 

*See this term in Fleming's "Vocabulary of Philosophy;" see 
also Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 



Fecundation Indispensable. 71 

the soul. The vital principle, on account of its relation 
to the molecules of matter, may be said, in a somewhat 
general sense, to take the place of the anima mundi, 
the life of the world, as taught by the ancients; but 
the psychical principle, not being directly allied to 
matter, is, in the different animal organizations, pre- 
eminently individual, special, and, in man, personal. 
It is but reasonable to conclude that this fluid is taken 
up in the development of the soul from a psychical 
germ in like manner as the vital fluid is taken up from 
the nutrient materials during the growth of the tissue. 
It is only the germinal principle that is transmitted 
from parents to the germ-cell, and not the soul in its 
maturity. The latter is developed by a regular process 
of evolution pari passu with the development of the 
body. In building the body, the psychical principle 
differentiates all the numerous cells to suit their re- 
spective functions and use in the organic structure. 
But the reproductive cells are not formed until after 
the soul itself has attained to a considerable degree of 
maturity. To suit the requirements of these cells, it 
supplies them with the necessary germinal elements 
(psychical principle), which it eliminates from itself, 
as the true type of its own nature and character. These 
impersonal principles furnished by the reproductive 
cells of the different sex unite together in the fecun- 
dated cell to form a personal soul of their lineal de- 
scendants, or offspring. As the body is in every in- 
stance the true outward expression of the soul that 



72 Origin of the Soul. 

formed it, so, in man, the body is formed to suit the 
psychical powers that pertain to man; while in the 
lower animals such bodies are formed as will best suit 
the psychical requirements of the respective species. 
Hence in each case the evolution of the body is in 
strict accordance with the involution of the powers of 
the soul that forms it. The infoldment of the indwell- 
ing spiritual principle corresponds, therefore, in each 
ease, with the unfolding process of the bodily structure, 
be it man or animal. 

"With these general remarks, let us now briefly out- 
line the operations of the psychical agent in the devel- 
opment of the embryo from the germ. "Besides the 
material substance of which the body is constructed,'' 
says Agassiz, "there is an immaterial principle, which, 
though it eludes detection, is none the less real, and 
to which we are constantly obliged to recur in consid- 
ering the phenomena of life. It originates with the 
body, and is developed with it, while yet it is totally 
apart from it. . . . The constancy of species is a 
phenomenon depending on the immaterial nature. 
Animals, and plants also, produce their kind generation 
after generation. We shall hereafter show that all 
animals may be traced back, in the embryo, to a mere 
point on the yolk of the &gg, bearing no resemblance 
whatever to the future animal. But even here an im- 
material principle, which no external influence can 
prevent or modify, is present, and determines its future 
form, so that the Qgg of the hen can produce nothing 



Fecundation Indispensable. 73 

but a chicken^ and the egg of the cod-fish produces only 
the cod. It may therefore he said of a truth that the 
chicken and the cod exist in the egg before their for- 
mation." "Perception," says he, "is a faculty springing 
from this principle." * According to i^gassiz, there is a 
spiritual principle which resides in the germ of every 
animal and is in some manner connected with the vital 
processes, developing to maturity with each animal 
organization. Every physiological action which comes 
to our notice, either in the vegetable or animal king- 
dom, is connected with this principle, and is limited 
to individual organisms. There is, therefore, no gen- 
eral physiological action to be found in either of the 
kingdoms of nature. All the operations of life are the 
result of a separate and individual spiritual agency 
which we have denominated the "psychical principle." 
In the formation of the body, this principle is co-oper- 
ative with the vital principle. 

Having shown that the personal soul is formed in 
the germ-cell by the process of fecundation, and having 
likewise divided its powers into two fundamental 
classes, viz., the unconscious and the conscious, the 
former, being concerned in the operations of organic 
life, pertain to physiology; the latter, developing as 
the mental powers, pertain to philosophy. Beginning, 
then, with the fecundated ovum, let us now trace 
the operations of the former class in the develop- 
ment of the embryo. The first most striking change 

♦"Principles of Zoology," by Agassiz and Gould, p. 43. 



74 Oeigin of the Soul. 

observed to take place in the fecundated egg is ttie 
segmentation of the yolk and its formation into 
cells that are destined to enter into the structure of 
the animal whose formation is about to take place. As 
cells are produced, they are immediately co-ordinated 
by the psychical or "formative principle" into tissue. 
The arrangement of tissue is in strict accordance with 
the plan of the structure of the forthcoming animal, 
which plan of structure in all cases accords with the 
wants and requirements of the psychical agent that 
forms it. In the higher order of animals we are pre- 
sented at a very early stage of the development of the 
embryo with cells which are co-ordinated into three 
membranous layers: an outer one, an inner one, and 
a middle layer, called hlastodermic membranes. The 
next step in the process is the formation of a straight 
line, or furrow, midway upon the external surface of the 
outer membrane, which furrow deepens until it be^ 
comes completely buried in the mass of cells that are 
deposited upon the external layer. As the outer mem- 
brane thickens, this furrow becomes completely in- 
closed in its whole length by the upper edges of the 
furrow coming into contact and forming a union with 
each other, thus changing the simple furrow into an 
inclosed cavity. At one end of this furrow — now an 
inclosed cavity — an enlargement is observed to take 
place, which is destined to receive the brain and give 
form to the head of the young animal. In the two 
cavities formed by a partial diversion of this furrowed 



Fecundation^ Indispensable. 75 

line the brain and spinal marrow are lodged. The brain 
and spinal marrow are formed by an arrangement of 
nerve-cells which are, in the first place, a little larger 
than the mature nerve-cells, but are finally condensed 
into cells of the ordinary size. Both in man and in 
the lower animals, as nerve-cells are formed, they are 
differentiated and co-ordinated into numerous parts, 
each tissue and part having a distinct office to perform, 
suited in every respect to the different powers of the 
psychical agent that forms it. Thus, in all the tribes of 
animals, the primary, instinctive, and unconscious pow- 
ers of the soul are essentially necessary to the formation 
of just such organs as are requisite for the development 
and exercise of the conscious operations of the soul; 
for without suitable organs, such as the sense-organs, 
there could be no development of intelligence. Hence 
it is essentially necessary that instinctive powers should 
exist in the soul in order that the latter may accomplish 
its own destiny in life. But to return. The first mark- 
ing, or furrowing, of the outer membrane, and its sub- 
sequent division into suitable cavities for the lodgment 
of the brain and spinal marrow, show that the animal 
whose formation is commenced will have a spinal col- 
umn, and that it will, if permitted to develop to com- 
pletion, take its place, both physically and mentally, 
among the vertebrated animals. But at this stage of 
its development it can not be determined from an ex- 
amination of the germ alone whether the animal form- 
ing will develop into a fish, a reptile, a bird, a quadni- 



76 Origi^^ of the Soul. 

ped, or into a liiiman being. At this stage of develop- 
ment the free and lower edges of the furrowed mem- 
brane, following the outer curvature of the contents 
of the ovule, meet on the opposite side from the fur- 
rowed line or cavity, where the free edges meet and 
unite by cicatrice, thus inclosing the trunk, which sub- 
sequently divides into the thoracic and abdominal cavi- 
ties. From this simple layer of cells, which constitute 
the outer membrane just referred to, are formed and 
differentiated all that part of the body known as the 
organs of "animal life," such as the skeleton, the upper 
and lower extremities, the muscles, and the nervous sys- 
tem with its different appendages, as the organs of 
sense, etc. Whilst these changes are taking place in 
the outer membrane, the inner membrane, which is 
now inclosed within the sac formed by the outer one, 
becomes differentiated into the numerous organs of 
"organic life," such as the stomach, intestines, liver, 
kidneys, etc., while from the middle layer are formed 
the heart, lungs, and blood-vessels. The first step taken 
towards the differentiation of the internal organs is 
the formation of a separate cell for each organ, which 
constitutes a distinct center of nutrition. Thus there 
is an hepatic cell formed for the liver, which is immedi- 
ately divided and multiplied into numerous other cells 
of its kind and character. As the cells are formed, 
they are co-ordinated by the psycho-vital force into the 
delicate and complex structure of the liver. In like 
manner renal cells are formed for the kidneys, which, 



Fecundation" Indispensable. 77 

multiplying into others of the kind, result in the for- 
mation of these organs; and so of all the other organs 
of the body. The same power — ^the same psycho-vital 
energy — that formed the different organs of the body 
resides in their cells, and carries on their respective 
functions from the beginning of life to its close. The 
different organs, like that of the whole body, continue 
their growth from childhood to maturity, or until the 
instinctive psychical powers become balanced in their 
energies so as to suit all the requirements of nutrition 
and waste for the normal support of the tissues. 

The first differentiated cell which serves as the re- 
quired starting-point in an organ is not always a perfect, 
typical cell, such as belongs to the mature state of the 
organ. This is exemplified in the formation of the 
foetal skeleton; for the first cells, which serve as the 
beginning of the latter, are cartilaginous, and take their 
deposit of lime afterwards. Thus embryonic develop- 
ment proceeds, like the development of the soul from 
the simple laws of instinct to the highest intelligence, 
from the most simple form of structure to the most 
complex structure of the organism. The cells that form 
the nerve-centers of nutrition are, in the first place, 
commonly larger than those of the perfect type, but 
gradually condense, as the development of the nerve- 
tissue proceeds, into true, typical nerve-cells. The same 
remarks are more or less applicable to the formation of 
other tissue. They become perfected as the embryonic 
development proceeds. Thus embryonic development 



78 Origin of the Soul. 

begins with a simple form of cell-struetiire, and, pro- 
ceeding onward, ends in the most complex structure 
of the organism. Like the power that forms it, it be- 
gins its operations \nth a class of simple, instinctive 
laws, and proceeds onward in its development until it 
sometimes reaches, by the aid of the organs of the 
body, the highest order of intelligence. As the body 
is exceedingly fragile and weak in the first place, but 
afterwards attains to great power and strength, so the 
operations of the soul begin in weakness, and, through 
the aid of the sense-organs which it forms, rises after- 
wards to extraordinary manifestations of strength and 
power. We see this mental power manifested, not only 
in the body, but we also see it exerting an inventive 
genius to extend this power beyond the organism by 
devising different mechanical appliances, as supplement- 
ing force to aid in carrying on many of the transactions 
of Uf e. 

But to return to the unconscious, instinctive opera- 
tions. The soul by means of this class of powers forms 
the different cells for its own use, not only in keeping 
the various parts of the body in repair, but likewise in 
the performance of the higher operations of mind in 
the movement of the parts. The bony fabric serves 
as the foundation of the animal structure; the muscles 
serve in the performance of motion. For this purpose 
there are cells formed which, when decomposed by the 
will-power acting upon the constituent elements of the 
cell, furnish the requisite chemical agent as a subtile 



Fecundation Indispensable. 79 

force necessary to move the muscles in obedience to 
the voluntary acts of the mind. There are cells formed 
for nutrition and separate cells formed for the per- 
formance of sensation. To subserve the purpose of 
visual perception, for instance, there are transparent 
cells formed in the retina to admit the rays of light to 
serve the conscious powers of the soul in vision. There 
are cells formed in the lingual nerves which readily 
admit flavoring particles, and cells in the olfactory 
nerves for receiving odorous particles. There are cells 
formed for respiration; and, lastly, cells formed for the 
reproduction of the species. Hence all the functions 
of "animal life," like those of "organic life," are per- 
formed by means of cells. All the special sensations 
accompanying the perceptions of the soul are performed 
in the nerve-cells of the different sense-organs of the 
body. Occupying the whole body as its tenement, the 
soul perceives the phenomena of light and colors in 
the transparent cells of the retina; it perceives the phe- 
nomena of sound in the cells of the auditory nerve dis- 
tributed within the ear; it perceives odors in the nose 
and flavors as the flavoring particles are absorbed by 
the cells in -the papillse of the tongue, and feels tactile 
sensations by means of cells which have been adapted 
to suit the gentle pressure made upon the nerve-cells 
distributed to the fingers' ends. The perceptions thus 
obtained are, at the time, all colligated by the soul, 
which for this purpose acts in connection with another 
part of the nervous system; viz., in the cells which form 



80 Oeigijst of the Soul. 

the cineritious substance of the brain. Thus we hold 
that the soul not only builds the body, but carries on 
the different functions, both of "organic life" and 
^^animal life," performing each distinctive function in 
a separate and distinct part of the body. 
V As the body is constructed entirely for the use of 
the conscious soul, and as the vital principle has no 
differentiating nor co-ordinating powers, while the soul 
has both, we are forced to the conclusion that the un- 
conscious powers of the soul, in connection with the 
vital principle, build the body and differentiate the tis- 
sue into special parts and functions. As evidence that 
the soul possesses differentiating and co-ordinating 
powers, we know that its conscious powers are capable 
of differentiating into numerous faculties of intelli- 
gence, and also that it has the power of co-ordinating 
the thoughts of the mind into logical sequence in the 
processes of reasoning. The former class of powers then 
co-ordinate and differentiate the parts of the organism, 
while the latter co-ordinate the thoughts of the mind 
into rational sequence. Thus the soul possesses powers 
of co-ordination as well as powers of differentiation. 
The following may be presented as a brief summary of 
the views we have been advocating in regard to tlie con- 
nection of the soul with the body and its relation to 
the vital principle: 
y 1. The germs of all the different races of animals, 
as well as those of plants, must undergo the fecundating 
process, either directly or indirectly, before they axe 



FeCUNDATIOX IlTDISPE^iTSABLE. 81 

capable of being multiplied intd' cells for the formation 
of tissue, both in plants and animals. 

2. No cell can be fecundated that is not previously 
and at the time possessed of vitality. Hence the vital 
principle can not be the true fecundating agent that 
is added to the germ-cell by this process. 

3. Ever}" fecundated animal germ, under favoring 
auspices, develops into an organized being resembling 
in all respects the same genera and species, the same 
form and character, both mentally and physically, as 
that which pertained to the parents that contributed 
to the germ the powers necessary to the organization of 
the new being. The same remarks are applicable to 
the fecundation of the germ of plants, by which they 
are also enabled to preserve their form, as well as their 
genera and species, from age to age. 

4. As all animals bear the relation of parent and 
offspring, so no one parent can, for an indefinite period, 
furnish the requisite organizing principle for the pro- 
duction of offspring. It is, however, claimed by some 
naturalists that a few insect tribes may produce 
progeny for a short period without the direct aid or 
influence of the opposite sex. In the higher forms of life 
there is no such thing as parthenogenesis. 

5. As the vital principle is the same in the white 
hlood-corpusdes of all animals, and exists in all germs 
before fecundation takes place, as well as in those in- 
numerable living germs that never undergo the pro- 
cess of fecundation, it can not for tMs reason be the 



82 Origin- of the Sottl. 

true sexual principle furnished to the maternal germ by 
the process of fecundation. 

6. If the vital principle can not of itself form tis- 
sue and differentiate the tissue into special organs of 
the body, differentiating also each animal into genera 
and species, it is clear that the only remaining prin- 
ciple possessing such differentiating power is the sentient 
principle^ which is found to differ, not only in every spe- 
cies, but likewise to some extent in each animal, in 
regard to its special sensibilities and faculties of inteili- 
gence. 

7. As the germs of each species can be fecundated 
only by one of its own kind of species, the fecundating 
principle must be, in each ease, one of special energy 
and power. It must preserve the animal kingdom dis- 
tinctly in all its different classes, orders, genera, spe- 
cies, and family characteristics. If there were not a 
special influence transmitted from parent to offspring, 
the present order of nature would at once break up, 
and utter confusion would inevitably prevail through- 
out the whole order of living beings. Hence the 
psychical or sentient principle, possessing, as it does, 
differentiating powers, and belonging to every animal 
organization, it must be the true differentiating prin- 
ciple of animal life that is transmitted to the offspring. 

8. As man is composed of two distinct natures — 
consisting of a soul or sentient principle and a body — 
each germ-cell must contain mthin its vitalized plas- 
mic contents a psychical principle — as a germinal prin- 



Fecundation Indispensable. 83 

eiple — derived respectively from both sexes. The ma- 
ternal ovule contains within it a psychical principle, 
which is a complete fac-simile or duplicate of all the 
powers contained potentially in the personal soul of 
the maternal parent, while the paternal germ-cell con- 
tains a like duplicate of the male parent. The psychical 
principle contained in the opposite sexual cells is of such 
deficient energy as to be entirely incapable of forming 
a separate organic structure from the cell which eon- 
tains it until it has been re-enforced by that of the 
opposite sex at the moment of fecundation. The per- 
sonal soul of the offspring, thus 'procreated and formed, 
now contains potentially (though modified by the com- 
posite blending) all the different psychical character- 
istios of the two parents, from which it is derived. To 
form the organism, we have therefore only to divide the 
psychical powers into two classes — the unconscious and 
the conscious — ^the latter as yet existing only poten- 
tially, while the former, being instinctive and ever 
active, starts the process of constructing the organism. 
After the body is formed, the conscious powers begin to 
develop, so as ultimately to unfold all the combined 
characteristics of the mental powers belonging to the 
parents. Could the impersonal, psychical agent, which 
resides in the ovum before fecundation, form a body 
from the maternal ovule, the individual thus formed 
would be in all respects a complete type of the mother 
alone, both mentally and physically. It is in conse- 
quence, therefore, of the comhination of the psychical 



84 Oeigik^ of the Sofl. 

agents in the cell at fecundation, that the great variety 
of individuals in the human family depends. Are those 
faint markings of segmentation sometimes seen in the 
yolk of the unfecundated egg, the result of these sepa- 
rate, impersonal, psychical powers manifesting an ahor- 
tive tendency to form an organism? We regard the con- 
stitutional and mental powers of each offspring as a 
product of the varied blending of the opposite, psychical 
powers of the parents. 

9. If the psychical agent is in no way connected 
with the formation of the organism, there would un- 
doubtedly be a frequent want of adaptation between 
the body and the psychical powers destined for its occu- 
pancy and use. If the soul, by its unconscious, instinct- 
ive powers, does not build the body, there must be two 
separate principles added to the germ at fecundation — 
one for building the body, the other to make use of it 
after its completion. But it is much more rational to 
conclude that there is but one principle transmitted 
from the parents with two classes of powers^ — one to 
build the body, and the other to use it as an instru- 
mentality. 

10. We do not feel the operations of the soul ^vbich 
pertain to organic life, except when these are disturbed 
by disease, as in injuries received by the body. That 
some of our psychical operations are not felt, is evident 
from the fact that we do not feel any sensations ac- 
companying the acts of memory, imagination, or will. 
If this be true, then, of some of the conscious powers 



Fecundation^ Indispensable. 85 

of the soul, how much more may it be said of those im- 
conseioiis, instinctive powers, which connect it with the 
different parts of the body? In regard to the first class 
of operations referred to, we are conscious of them, 
but do not always feel them w'hen they arise, while in 
reference to the other class we are not generally con- 
scious of their operations in health, but feel them as 
painful sensations only when disturbed by disease. 

11. In the performance of the functions of organic 
life, the psychical powers operate instinctively and un- 
consciously. Accordingly, during the process of embry- 
onic development the instinctive artificer of the bodily 
structure makes use of materials without any knowledge 
whatever on its part of the exercise of the powers, nor 
of the means or materials employed in the construction 
of the different parts, nor of the end to which its several 
operations tend. 

12. In embryonic development, the unconscious 
powers of the soul unfold in connection with the un- 
foldment of the body, while the conscious powers of 
the personal soul gradually unfold, but not till after 
bodily formation has been completed. The unfoldment 
of the body depends upon the unfolding of the psychical 
powers, and not upon the reverse of this, as many natu- 
ralists maintain. Instead, therefore, of the hrain form- 
ing the mind, the instinctive, unconscious powers of 
the soul form the brain as the necessary instrument for 
the development of its conscious operations, which take 
place through the aid of sense-organs. 



86 Origin of the Soul. 

yC 13. "We have stated that the immaterial, non- 
extended soul, as an unfolding entity, unites with the 
vital principle of the cell-protoplasm, and extends pari 
'passu as the body extends through the multiplication 
and addition of cells. Withdraw, at any time before 
the body is formed, the nutrient supply for the forma- 
tion of cells, and you prevent the development of the 
soul from taking place. The latter, failing to accom- 
plish its development into a complete, personal exist- 
ence, perishes in like manner as all fecundated germs 
may be said to perish, when they, on account of unfavor- 
able surroundings, aboriively fail to build for them- 
selves an animal structure in which to complete the 
development of the indwelling, psychical agent. If you 
arrest the organic movements at any stage of embry- 
onic development — ^say at the period of the formation 
of the hlasto-dermic membranes (when the structure is 
unfinished, and when it can not be decided to be either 
man or animal), you would, in that case, prevent the 
formation of sense-organs, the only means by which the 
soul attains to consciousness. But when these oper- 
ations are permitted to go on undisturbed, the psychical 
agent, by means of its own spontaneity of action, attains 
to a conscious, individual life or existence through the 
aid of the sense-organs, which by one class of its powers 
it constructs. 

Having thus summarized our views in regard to 
the fecundating principle in its relation to life, and in 
its relation to consciousness or mind, let us now stop a 



Fecundation^ Indispensable, 87 

moment to inquire into the final disposition of those 
two agents — the psychical and the vital — at the termi- 
nation of the life of the organism. The psycho-vital 
agent, being the organizing principle of the body, is 
connected with it by means of countless millions of 
cells; and the vital principle being the nexus or con- 
necting link between the soul and each cell, we are led 
to inquire what constitutes the death of the organism. 
The soul acting in relation to the organism as a personal 
cause, any serious or important disturbance of its oper- 
ations in the numerous cells of the body may terminate 
the cell functions, and the termination of the cell func- 
tions would constitute the death of the body. As the 
death of the organism is caused by the cessation of the 
functions of organic life, and as the hody without the 
soul is dead, so the latter must be concerned, as we liave 
heretofore claimed, in the performance of these func- 
tions. But in the final withdrawal of the psycho-vital 
force from all the cells, what becomes of the psychical 
and the vital agents? The soul must either sever its 
connection with the vital principle, leaving the latter in 
connection with the molecules of the organic cells, or 
else the vital principle must be separated from the cells, 
and continue its connection with the soul, which is in 
fact the case; for, upon miscroscopic examination of the 
cells after death, they will be found to have been de- 
serted by the vital agent. This will appear from the 
fact that all amoeboid or protean movements will then 
be found to have entirely ceased. If the separation 



88 Oeigin" of the Soul. 

takes place between the vital principle and the cell, the 
latter must remain connected with the soul; for it evi- 
dently can not quit its connection with both, unless 
there is a third principle having a still stronger attrac- 
tion for the vital principle than exists between it and 
the soul. There are but two entities, known to us, to 
which the vital principle shows any signs of relation or 
joint connection; viz., the molecules of the cell on the 
one side, and the soul on the other. If, therefore, it 
quits its connection with the one, it must remain more 
firmly united to the other. The same powers, then, 
which formed the cells and co-ordinated them into the 
structure of the bod}^, giving to the latter all its anima- 
tion and life force, appear, by a more consolidated union 
with each other, to be capable of surviving the body. 
The soul having lost one of the principles with which 
it was connected — ^viz., the material — is now dad only 
with the principle of life. Thus the psycho-vital powers 
which formed the body, and, by their joint union with 
it, tooTc the form of the body, preserve the same bodily 
form as that which they had previously animated and 
deserted. Connected with the principle of life, the 
soul is a compound of two entities which survive the 
body as a personal and spiritual being. Over three hun- 
dred years before the Christian era, Aristotle advanced 
a theory of the soul in which he maintained that in 
man there is a nutrient soul which forms the body, 
and that there is, likewise, an animal soul, both of 
which, he held, were common to man and animals. He 



Fecundation Indispensable. 89 

also taught that there is a rational soul which pertains 
exclusively to man, and is, therefore, the immortal prin- 
ciple, the two former perishing, as he supposed, with 
the body at death. This theory differs somewhat from 
the animism of Stahl, who in recent times maintained 
that the soul is derived from the anima mundi, or life 
of the world; 'that it is the true, living principle which 
forms the body and maintains all its functions. The 
theory of Stahl, however, was supposed to be material- 
istic in its tendencies, and hence met with but little 
favor among the opponents of materialism. Contrary 
to these views, we hold that the soul is transmitted at 
the fecundation of the germ; that it is, at first, a simple 
entity, but by uniting with the vital principle in the 
germ-cell and those of the vitalized blood-plasm, as these 
are taken up during the formation of the body, the 
soul becomes a compound entity. It is a very general 
belief that man is a compound of two natures, consist- 
ing of soul and body. In like manner, the disembodied 
soul may be said to be compounded of a sentient prin- 
ciple with the vital principle. The soul at death car- 
ries with it from the world the vital and more ethereal 
part of the material body. In the building of the or- 
ganism, these two principles are indissolubly united to 
each other. 

If the soul, as a causal energy, is, at death, capable 
of surviving the body, losing nothing but the cells of 
the body, it remains to be seen w'hether its higher 
conscious powers, which were developed through the 



90 Origin of the Soul. 

sense-organs while in connection with the body, can 
act independently of these organs when separated from 
the body at death. This question we expect to be able 
to answer in the affirmative purely on scientific grounds. 
The grounds to which we here refer are the unimpeach- 
able data of consciousness, which is the only authority 
upon which any scientific investigation in regard to 
mind can be conducted. But in the pursuit of these 
inquiries we shall be compelled to bring before the 
reader a class of psychical powers which have hereto- 
fore received little or no attention by the speculative 
philosophers during the centuries that have preceded 
the present. Mankind has in every age of the world 
believed in the immortality of the soul; but if the 
soul is naturally immortal, it must be on account of a 
class of laws within it, capable of acting independently 
of the body, and hence capable of acting after the lat- 
ter is destroyed and has returned to its primitive ele- 
ments. Let us see, then, whether it is endowed with 
such capabilities and powers as will enable it to con- 
tinue its existence after the death of the body. 

In the division of the psychical powers into two 
fundamental classes, as the unconscious and the con- 
scious, the former, we have shown, were necessary to 
the construction of the body; for without the action of 
these powers in producing sense-organs, the latter class 
of powers would not have appeared. The body, then, 
depends upon the soul for its existence, and the soul 
depends with equal certainty upon the organs of the 



Fecundation Indispensable. 91 

body for development of its conscious or mental powers. 
So much^ then, for the importance of the former class 
of powers in the development of the soul from zero to 
its higher intellectual capacities. In addition to this 
division of the powers of the soul into two classes — 
the unconscious and the conscious — we now propose 
to divide the conscious powers into two fundamental and 
widely-different modes of manifestation; viz., those 
which act by means of the sense-organs of the body in 
relation to the phenomena of the physical world and 
those which act independently of these organs in rela- 
tion to the phenomena of the spiritual. These powers 
are known, respectively and distinctively, as the waking 
side and as the dream side of the mind. The one class 
can act only when the brain and nerves of sense are 
awake, while the other class appears to us only when 
the brain and nerves of sense are asleep. Sleep, then, 
unlocks the door to the apprehension of the latter class 
of phenomena, while the waking condition of the sen- 
sorium and its appendages temporarily closes it to 
such phenomena. 

In reading the history of philosophy, it is surpris- 
ing, indeed, to witness the remarkable discussions that 
have from time to time engaged the attention of men 
for a period of more than two thousand years, embrac- 
ing the highest order of talents of every age of the 
world; and yet, in this discussion, philosophers have 
left one whole class of the mental powers almost en- 
tirely untouched, as if these powers of the soul were 



92 Origin of the Soul. 

too intricate or inscrutable for the human mind to in- 
vestigate or seriously attempt their analysis. And what 
may be said to add still more to the surprise is the fact 
that the discussions to which we allude have been, to 
a very great extent, engaged in by philosophers of 
Christian countries, where the accepted religion, em- 
braced by both peasant and the philosopher, has been, 
in a great measure, furnished to the world by celestial 
personages approaching the conscious powers of the 
soul on the dream side of tJie mind, as if this state or 
condition of the soul was much better calculated for 
presenting that class of phenomena which more prop- 
erly pertain to the soul's future state of existence than 
that class of phenomena which belong to the rational 
and waking side of the body. Dreaming may be said 
to be nothing more nor less than a temporary natural 
vision of the soul, in which there is a sudden appear- 
ance of phenomena presented to our attention when 
the body is asleep. Thus the waking and sleeping con- 
ditions of the sensorium and the nerves under its con- 
trol divide the conscious powers into two distinct 
classes; and, as dreaming is an action of the mind, which 
has no essential use in the requirements of the present 
life, it becomes necessary for us to inquire into the na- 
ture and character and end or aim of these operations. 
In the dream operations nature seems to be constantly 
throwing open to our view the portals of the soul, and 
urging this class of the mental powers upon our atten- 
tion, while at the same time we have been as constantly 



Fecundation Indispensable. 93 

neglecting or refusing to enter npon their investiga- 
tion. Whilst, therefore, the operations of the mind 
through the bodily senses in their relation to the phe- 
nomena of the material world have been so carefully 
studied, the phenomena presented to the consciousness in 
dreaming have been almost entirely neglected. Essen- 
tial as the senses of the body are to the perception of 
the phenomena of the world in the waking state, these 
organs are not required and indeed are, for the time be- 
ing, wholly unnecessary to the perception of the phe- 
nomena attending the dream state. Dreaming is a 
state of the soul in which the entire history of the world 
might, as we shall hereafter show, be summarily con- 
densed by the laws of mind into phenomena of a pecu- 
liar nature and kind, representing everything as pres- 
ent to the consciousness in a very remarkably short 
space of time. And if on these occasions the will-power 
were in action, co-ordinating the thoughts of the mind, 
as it does in the waking state of the body, a complete 
and orderly vision representing the phenomena of the 
world might then be presented as objects actually 
present to the view of the consciousness, all being per- 
fectly arranged in that true order of phenomenal 
sequence in which the mind perceived them in the first 
place, when acting in connection with the sense-organs 
of the body. In this way we should have a world of 
phenomena presented by the soul quite as orderly as 
that of the external world. But then, upon the other 
hand, if the will were acting on these occasions, co- 



94 Oeigin of the Soul. 

ordinating our thouglits with their attending phe- 
nomena,, we should be constantly confounding the 
dream operations with those of the waking state. Be- 
sides, the will, being then in action, would be constantly 
setting the muscles of the body in motion, and the 
sleeping world would then become somnambulic, and 
we should all be moving about in a state of complete 
somnambulic sleep, in which case the nervous and mus- 
cular system, failing to obtain the requisite repose, 
would then fail to have the waste restored so as to main- 
tain the normal conditions of the nervous system, and 
the result would be extreme exhaustion of the nervous 
system, ending in partial or complete paralysis, and 
even insanity. If, in the waking state, the will and 
the reasoning powers were held in abeyance, as they are 
in dreaming, the external world would then appear to 
us only as a dream; so that the dreamlike appearances 
of things, whether awake or asleep, do not depend so 
much upon the accordance, nor upon the discordance, 
of the surrounding phenomena presented, as it does 
upon the discordant condition of the will or mind it- 
self at the time of their presentation to the conscious- 
ness. Dreaming, then, must be rationally conducted 
to depend entirely upon the action of the will to co- 
ordinate the thoughts and the phenomena presented 
to the mind, while the waking state depends likewise 
upon the action of the will to co-ordinate the thoughts 
of the mind in order to prevent the veritable phenomena 
of the waking world from appearing to us only as a 



Fecundation Indispensable. 95 

dream. For these reasons it is a wise provision of 
nature that the will-power is held in abeyance during 
the dream state, in order to prevent ns from constantly 
mistaking one class of phenomena for that of another, 
which we would be very likely to do if the will were 
co-ordinating the thoughts while dreaming. Not only 
so, but, as above stated, we should be constantly acting 
out our dream by somnambulic movements of the body. 
As dreaming presents to the consciousness phenomena 
quite as unco-ordinated as the rise and successions of 
the thoughts are at the time of the occurrence, this class 
of phenomena have always been looked upon as being 
utterly incomprehensible in their nature, and hence 
there has been no serious attempt to analyze these ap- 
parent inconceivable mysteries. There are two classes 
of phenomena between which we are constantly oscil- 
lating: the phenomena of the material world on the 
one side, and the phenomena of the mind on the other. 
It sometimes requires but a very few moments of time 
to usher us from one class of phenomena to the other, 
from one world into the other. "Man," says Herac- 
litus, "is the occupant of two worlds: the world of 
the senses and a private world of his own." In dream- 
ing we are ushered, as it were, into the estuaries of an- 
other life, a state of the soul in which we always mis- 
take the phenomena then before us for those of the 
waking life. Such is the distinct character of the im- 
pressions produced at the time upon the mind that we 
never for a moment believe them to be the phenomena 



96 Okigin of the Soul. 

of a dream, but, on account of the valid impressions 
which they produce upon the senses of the soul, we al- 
ways beHeve that we are awake and grappling with 
the veritable phenomena of the material world. As a 
natural and spontaneous state of the soul, in which this 
class of operations comes and goes without our bidding, 
the phenomena of dreaming require to be reduced to 
a science quite as much as the waking operations; but 
we can not proceed further upon this branch of our 
inquiry till after we have considered the nature and 
laws of sleep. We must first show what sleep is, and 
how it affects our mental operations. Like the science 
of geology, which could be made out only by careful 
study and comparison with the forms of living beings, 
so the phenomena of dreaming can be reduced to a 
science only by careful comparison with the phenomena 
of the mind pertaining to the waking state. 

It has been but little more than a century since 
Voltaire entertained the opinion that fossil remains 
were not the buried products of extinct races of beings, 
but were the productions of natural law — abortions of 
nature, as he called them — which had been brought 
about by her failures in the effort to produce the pres- 
ent races of animals and plants. He supposed that in 
the study of these relics of the past we were looking 
into the womb of nature instead of her grave. To ac- 
count for the presence of fossil remains upon the sum- 
mit of the Alps, many supposed that, as curiosities of 
nature, they had been gathered up by the soldiers of 



Fecundation Indispensable. 97 

Napoleon, and dropped by them in their march across 
the Alps. And although fossil remains have been con- 
stantly kicked about under foot for thousands of years, 
it was not till quite recently that their true import has 
become rightly understood and properly reduced to a sci- 
ence. By means of a study of this science we are now en- 
abled to trace the history of the phenomena of life on 
the globe for millions of ages in the past. And what if 
the facts should show that there is a class of phenomena 
in the soul arising out of the impressions that the 
world has made upon it, which, when rightly under- 
stood, may serve to throw open to our view and com- 
prehension countless millions of ages to come in regard 
to the future existence of the soul? Indeed, nature has 
been far more diligent in her efforts to press the lat- 
ter class of phenomena upon our attention than she 
was in regard to buried remains of a former world. 
These efforts have been pressed upon us in like pro- 
portion as the future existence of the soul may be said 
to exceed in importance a knowledge of the former ex- 
istence of life upon the globe. If the soul is immortal, 
it is by virtue of a class of laws which enable it to con- 
tinue its operations after the dissolution of the organic 
structure. If such laws exist, there can be no good rea- 
son assigned why they should be entirely concealed 
from our observation, as has been uniformly supposed, 
more especially when all the other departments of na- 
ture have been placed within the reach of our compre- 
hension. It is a mistake to suppose that the laws of 
7 



98 Origix of the Soul. 

nature have been exposed to our comprehension and 
study, while those of the soul have been hermetically 
sealed from our view. Why expose to our observation 
the entombed races of animals which have been so care- 
fully preserved in their stony coffins in order that we 
might compare the past with the present living races, 
for no other purpose than to furnish data for a true 
history of life upon the globe, and yet at the same time 
completely conceal from our observation all scientific 
data in regard to the true nature and future existence 
of the soul? Such a view would be inconsistent in 
the extreme. 

In the division of the operations of the soul into 
unconscious powers and into conscious powers, and the 
division of the latter into two classes, the first class we 
have designated the vital faculty, the second the mental 
faculty, and the third we propose to call the immortal 
faculty — each one of these having its own subdivision 
or differentiation of powers. These foregoing classes 
have a certain relation and dependence upon one an- 
other. Thus, without the primary class, there would 
be no physical organization, and without such organi- 
zation there could be no development of the mental 
powers, and without the latter class there would be no 
immortality. As all unfecundated germs must perish, 
so all fecundated germs that fail to fonn an organiza- 
tion must likewise perish on account of the psychical 
principle failing to form a personal existence by means 
of a union with the vital principle in the organizing 



Fecundation Indispensable. 99 

process of forming a bodily structure, as well as on 
account of there being no sense-organs for the develop- 
ment of mental powers; hence the soul would fail in 
the accomplishment of the end and aim of its personal 
existence. At the death of the organism, the first class 
of the psychical powers, being primary and instinctive 
in their nature, carry away, as we have said, the vital 
principle with them from the world. The second class, 
being contingent in their operations, carry, folded up, 
as it were, in the reminiscent consciousness, transcripts 
of the phenomena of the world; while by the operations 
of the third class the soul possesses the capability of 
reproducing and objectively presenting to the percipient 
consciousness its own phenomenal transcripts of the 
world in ever-varying and endless vision. But of this 
anon. 

We expect to be able to show that in dreaming the 
soul acts consciously and independently of the cerebro- 
spinal system of nerves, while at the same time the 
unconscious powers are capable of continuing their 
operations in connection with the ganglionic system 
of nerves, independently of the former class of powers 
and of brain action, as they did in the womb, and as 
they do in the case of children born without a brain. 
In dreaming, the soul only temporarily withdraws its 
conscious operations from the cells of that part of the 
nervous system that acts in connection with these pow- 
ers in the waking state, while in death the unconscious 
powers withdraw their operations from the cells of or- 

Lafa 



100 Oeigin of the Soijl. 

ganic life, which completely terminate the bodily func- 
tions. If the conscious powers can withdraw from the 
brain and senses and act consciously and independently 
of these organs in dreaming without suffering the slight- 
est injury or impairment to the mental faculties (ex- 
cept, for the time being, the temporary suspension of 
the will and reasoning process), why not the uncon- 
scious powers of the soul mthdraw their action from the 
cells of organic life, thus terminating the cell-functions 
at death, without the slightest impairment of any of 
the powers of the soul? But before entering upon the 
investigation of the questions here presented in relation 
to the third class of powers and their bearing upon the 
future existence of the soul, we must first consider the 
nature of sleep: what it is, and its effect upon the brain 
as well as its effect upon the mind. 



PART n. 



THE EELATIOISr OF THE SOUL TO THE 
WORLD ANB TO IMMORTALITY. 

101 



CHAPTER I. 

SLEEP AND DREAMING-. 

Section 1.— Sleep. 

WE have divided the psychical powers into two gen- 
eral classes: the unconscious, instinctive, which, 
in connection with the vital principle, build the body, 
differentiating all its parts and functions; and the con- 
scious class, which constitutes the faculties of intelli- 
gence. The former are primary in their nature, and 
are supplemented in their functional activities by the 
toning influence of the ganglionic system of nerves. 
As heretofore shown, this class has exclusive relation 
to the cell functions of "organic life," to the building 
of the body, and the production and maintenance of 
its different functions. On the other hand, the con- 
sicious or intellectual powers of the soul are secondary 
and contingent in their nature — as faculties of intelli- 
gence they are directly dependent for their development 
upon the train and sense-organs immediately under its 
control. The intellectual operations, being, therefore, 
secondary in their origin and evolution, are not devel- 
oped until after these organs have been completed in 
i3ieir formation. Hence, where one or more of the or- 
gans of sense is deficient or entirely absent, the intel- 
lectual development will suffer in proportion to such 

103 



104 Origin of the Soul. 

privation or absence of the organ in question. Viewed 
in the light of the foregoing facts, the conscious pow- 
ers are essentially dependent for their development 
upon the faithful perforaiance of the unconscious, in- 
stinctive operations of the soul — those which form the 
bodily organs and keep them in suitable repair. We 
have already shown how these powers form the brain: 
in the first place, by producing a simple nerve-cell, and 
then, by a process of subsequent division, multiply and 
differentiate the numerous cells into the several parts, 
until all the distinctive parts of the brain are formed. 
By this means the brain is so differentiated into a va- 
riety of parts and functions as to be completely adapted 
to the future wants and requirements of the sentient 
occupant in the development of its higher conscious 
life. Thus the lower, instinctive powers of the soul 
seem to anticipate, as it were, and provide instinctively 
for the wants and requirements of its higher operations 
those which are known and designated as faculties of 
mind. But though all the different parts of the body 
may be perfectly formed, yet the development of the 
conscious powers can not take place until the indi- 
vidual is brought into direct, percipient relation with 
the objects of the external world. This does not take 
place until after the birth of the individual. The soul, 
then, by means of its instinctive operations, environs 
itself with matter in the formation of the organic struc- 
ture; and then, through the aid of the several sense- 
organs which these powers have provided, it is brought 



Sleep and Dkeaming. 105 

into percipient relation to the great cosmos, or outer 
environment of the world around us. In forming the 
body, the psychical powers act as a personal causal 
energy, operating instinctively, unconsciously, and, for 
the most part, constantly and unerringly; while in re- 
gard to the second class of powers, which act in con- 
nection with the brain and senses, their operations are 
contingent, conscious, and rational. Unlike the former 
class, these acts of the soul are, when reasoning from 
false premises, frequently liable to fall into error. Cor- 
responding with, these two distinctive classes of the 
psychical powers, we have two separate classes of nerve- 
centers, with which each class of our psychical opera- 
tions are functionally connected; viz., the ganglionic 
system and the cerebro-spinal system. The functions 
of the former, like the instinctive powers of the soul, 
are unceasingly carried on from moment to moment 
during life, while the functions of the latter are sub- 
ject to frequent interruptions on account of the periodic 
requirements of sleep. 

The conscious or mental powers also divide them- 
selves naturally and distinctively into two classes: one, 
which acts in immediate connection with the brain and 
external organs of sense; and the other, which acts 
independently of these organs. In this subdivision of 
the mental powers, the former class operate in the wak- 
ing state of the brain and bodily organs, while the lat- 
ter class act during the sleep of these organs. In other 
words, while natural sleep suspends the functions of 



106 Oeigin of the Soul. 

the brain and external senses, it does not suspend the 
operations of the mental or conscious powers of the 
soul only in relation to the objects of the external world. 
Hence, during the sleep of the bodily organs, the soul 
seems to be capable of entering upon a class of exer- 
cises wholly independent of the brain, the senses, and 
the material world, as appears in dreaming; for, while 
the organs of the body are indispensable to the per- 
formance of the mental operations during the waJdng 
state, they are not required to aid in the mental exer- 
cises of the dream state, so that this class of operations 
are always carried on while the brain and sense-organs 
are resting. It is to the study of this class of our mental 
powers that we expect to devote the remaining pages 
of this work. But in regard to the study of the intel- 
lectual or conscious powers of the soul, which, in the 
waking state of the brain and senses, connect us with 
the phenomena of the external world, we must refer 
the reader to writers upon mental science. In the 
pursuit of these investigations he will find an ample 
field open to his inquiries. Many of the questions there 
presented will be seen to have been the subject of most 
attentive thought and vigorous disputation for more than 
two thousand years; indeed, some of these questions are 
still unsettled. This is more especially the case in 
reference to certain questions pertaining to the philos- 
ophy of sense-perception and in regard to the office of 
the will in relation to the acts of intelligence and the 
bearing of these acts upon moral obligations. 



Sleep and Dreaming. 107 

As implied in the title of this work, the subject be- 
fore us naturally divides itself into three parts; viz., 
the relation of the soul to the body, to the world, and 
to immortality. The First Part we have already con- 
sidered and designated as the unconscious, instinctive 
operations of the soul, which, in connection with the 
vital principle, relate to the building of the body and 
the carrying on of the functions of ^^organic life." Part 
Second refers to the conscious or mental powers of the 
soul, which operate in connection with the brain and 
senses in relation to the objects of the external world. 
This class of powers, as we have said, naturally divide 
into two parts, according as the brain is awake or asleep 
during the mental exercises. The acts of the waking 
state relate to the phenomena of the external world, 
while those of dreaming have almost exclusive refer- 
ence to the soul's immortality. In the true order of 
sequence, the latter division would properly constitute 
Part Third; but in the present arrangement it follows 
immediately after Part First for the reason that we 
have decided not to take up separately the consideration 
of the intellectual powers. But as we shall have fre- 
quent occasion to refer to the waking operations in con- 
nection with the subject of dreaming, we shall pass, 
with these general remarks on the order of this arrange- 
ment, to the consideration of sleep and its effect upon 
the brain, the senses, and the intellect.* 

*NoTB. — For a fuU consideration of the inteUectual powers, we 
must refer the reader to the numerous works on Mental Science, 
and to the pandects of Philosophy. 



108 Origin oe the Soul.. 

What is sleep? Natural sleep is the rest or normal 
suspension of the functions of the brain and nerres 
immediately concerned in the operations of the mind. 
With this definition of sleep (which is based upon the 
physiology of the brain and nerves of sense), our first 
proposition is that the sleep of this part of the nerv- 
ous system can not take place while the mind is operat- 
ing upon it or employing it as an instrumentality. 

Proposition Second. The mind, as a general rule, 
does not cease its operations during the rest or sleep 
of the nervous system, as is abundantly exemplified in 
the phenomena of dreaming. 

This brings us at once to our third proposition; 
viz., that, in order to afford an opportunity for the 
rest or sleep of these organs, the mind must be capable 
of acting separately, or, in some manner, independently 
of the brain and nerves of sense; for, as in Proposition 
First, it is e^ddent that the nervous system can not rest, 
can not sleep while the mind is performing its accus- 
tomed operations upon it. And if, as in Proposition 
Second, the mental powers do not cease their activities 
during the sleep of the nervous system, then the mind 
must, in dreaming, operate independently of the brain 
and special nerves of sense, as claimed in Proposition 
Third. It is a self-evident fact that the brain can not 
sleep while it is engaged in the exercises of thought, nor 
the optic nerve perform the office of vision while it is 
asleep. In the waking state of the brain, the mental 
action is intra-organic; in the dream-state it is supra- 



Sleep and Dreaming, 109 

organic — Tiy per physical. How, then, it may be asked, 
is the periodic withdrawal of the mental operations 
from the nervous system brought about as a necessary 
precursor of sleep? 

Before proceeding to answer this question, we must 
first institute a brief inquiry into the necessary con- 
dition upon which the action of the mind in connection 
with the brain and nerves depends during the waking 
hours; for upon a proper understanding of the latter 
depends the true explanation of the former. It is a 
well-established fact in physiology that there is a nerve- 
current, which starts in the brain, as the great nerve- 
center of the organism, and follows the course of each 
and every nerve proceeding from it to the periphery 
of the nervous system. The immediate effect of this 
nerve-current is to give the necessary tone or Innervation 
to all the different parts of the cerebro-spinal system 
of nerves. Without this innervation of the nervous 
system, the power of the mind to employ the different 
nerves in their varied instrumentalities would be either 
partially or entirely lost; for an untoned, enervated 
brain and nerves of sense soon become entirely dis- 
qualified instruments for carrying on the operations of 
the mind, as is sometimes exemplified in paralysis from 
functional disturbance of some one or more of the 
nerves of sense, resulting in more or less permanent 
suspension of the functions of the particular sense or 
part affected. A similar eft'ect is often observed to take 
place in the suspension of the powers of the mind over 



110 Okigin of the Soul. 

the motor-nerves, resulting in paralysis of the muscles 
to which those nerves stand related. This disability 
is doubtless owing to deficient nutrition, and not to 
any disturbance of continuity in the fibers of the 
nerves themselves. To keep up the necessaiy supply 
of this nerve-current, then, there is constantly forming 
in the brain and other nerve-centers a class of cells of 
unstable chemical composition, whose office it is to fur- 
nish the requisite amount of this fluid to the different 
nerves distributed to the organs of sense and to the 
voluntary muscular apparatus. In order, therefore, to 
furnish this required amount of innervating nerve- 
influence, there is a constant nutritive action going on 
in the brain, sufficient to compensate for the waste which 
takes place by the decomposition of the gray matter of 
the brain, upon which the supply of this nerve-current 
depends. Hence, to keep up the supply of this fluid, 
assimilation must equal disassimilation, nutrition and 
waste must balance each other; or, where inequality 
arises, the expenditure must stop till the equilibrium 
is restored by the nutritive process. Hence the neces- 
sary requirements for the regular, periodic return of 
sleep; for, as the expenditure of the waking state is 
greater than the supply which takes place during the 
waking hour, in order to keep up the proper tone of 
the nervous system, the mental operations which are 
carried on in connection with the cerebro-spinal sys- 
tem of nerves must be either temporarily suspended 
or averted, so as to furnish an opportunity to restore 



Sleep and Dreaming. Ill 

the "wasted material consumed during the waking opera- 
tions. Otherwise this restoration could not take place, 
especially if the waste were as great in sleep as in the 
exercise of the waking hours. As soon, however, as 
the necessary supply has been furnished by the forma- 
tion of new cells in the brain to support the requisite 
innervation of the nervous system, wakefulness is re- 
stored. The restoration of the normal quantity of this 
nerve-force, then, gives energy and tone to the nervous 
system, while the reduction of the current below the 
proper standard so enervates or untones the nervous sys- 
tem as to render the latter unfit for the operations of 
the mind. 

When enervation takes place, a sense of lethargy 
and uneasiness arises; the senses and muscles lose their 
normal standard of activity, and, almost immediately 
following upon this state of inactivity, the senses cease 
to respond to the impressions made upon them by ex- 
ternal objects; a sense of weariness prevails; the indi- 
vidual is no longer able to maintain the erect position 
of the body, and, as a consequence of this feeling, seeks 
the recumbent posture. The limbs now bend them- 
selves into easy position, and in a short time, owing to 
the inability of the nervous system to carry on its 
normal activities, all the operations of the mind in 
connection with the drain and nerves of sense become 
completely withdrawn, so that the whole system of 
nerves, upon which the mind had depended for its ac- 
tion in the waking state, lapses involuntarily into in- 



112 Origin of the Soul. 

activity and repose. In the meantime, the subtile nerve^ 
current being now for the most part suspended, the 
nutritive operations, which are constantly active, soon 
restore the deficiency brought about by the waste of the 
gray matter of the brain, and thus the nerve-current 
is again restored to its normal standard. The brain and 
nerves of sense being now properly toned and restored 
to their former vigor, the mental operations, which had 
been actively going on during the sleep of the brain, 
soon begin to catenate with the cells of this organ and 
with the cells of the nerves of sense, thus restoring us 
again to the waking condition. Whenever the supply 
of this current has become sufficiently abundant by the 
restoration of the wasted nerve-cells, the mind, resum- 
ing its action in connection with these cells, starts the 
nerve-current, and thus tones up the whole nervous 
system, so that we are now, as it were, wound up or 
toned up again for the exercise of the waking hours. 
Whenever, therefore, this supply becomes exhausted or 
diminished through the mental and bodily exercises 
of the day, we are again untoned and fitted only for 
the rest or requirement of sleep. By this process of 
toning and untoning of the nervous system we are thus 
constantly oscillating between the waking and sleeping 
states. 

That the rest or influence of sleep extends to the 
whole cerebro-spinal system of nerves is evident, first, 
from the complete suspension of the functions of all 
the special nerves of sense connected with the opera- 



Sleep and Dreaming. 113 

tions of the mind. As sleep approaches, there is not 
only an inability to prevent the eyelids from closing 
on account of the loss of nerve-power which presides 
over them when awake, but if we carefully separate 
the eyelids during sleep, we shall find the pupil of each 
eye contracted to nearly the size of a pin-head, while, 
if we close our eyelids when awake simply in order to 
exclude the light, in that case the pupil of each eye 
will be found dilated. These facts show that in the 
one case the nerves suppl3dng the pupil are awake and 
performing their accustomed office; while in the other 
the same nerves have their function suspended, hence 
their contraction in sleep. In connection with these 
facts it is well known that during sleep the functions 
of the optic nerves, which have their origin at the base 
of the brain, are also completely suspended. So in 
regard to the auditory nerves, which rise near the me- 
dulla oblongata, where the spinal column of nerves con- 
nect with the brain. These nerves, to which belong 
the office of hearing, cease to perform their function 
in connection with the mind during sleep. 

That sleep extends its influence to the medulla ob- 
longata, which is the well-known center of respiration, 
is evident from the eifect produced upon the respiratory 
movements at these times. As these movements are, 
to a certain extent, under the influence of the will, they 
are rendered slower, deeper, and louder than in the 
waking condition, thus showing that the nerve-influ- 
ence derived from the voluntary system of nerves con- 
8 



114 Okigin of the Soul. 

nected with the respiratory action is temporarily sus- 
pended. That it is the voluntary nerves supplying the 
muscles of the chest that are asleep is evident from the 
fact that at these times we can not maintain any volun- 
tary control over the respiratory movements during 
sleep. So striking is the effect of sleep upon the res- 
piratory movements that we often listen to the sound 
of these movements in order to determine with greater 
degree of certainty whether the individual is asleep 
or awake. And were the influence of sleep to extend 
only for a short time to the whole of the medulla ob- 
longata, in which is located the involuntary nerve- 
center of respiration, we should then have a complete 
suspension of the respiratory action, resulting in the 
sleep of death. These nerve-centers, however, not be- 
ing under the control of the mind, are, on account of 
their involuntary functions, not subject to feelings of 
weariness, hence are not subject to the requirements of 
sleep. So, if we continue to follow up the spinal nerves 
that are connected with the operations of the mind to 
their termination throughout the whole course of the 
spinal column, we shall find that the muscular nerves, 
which come under the influence of the will, are all 
suspended in their functions during the continuance 
of sleep. Likewise, the sentient nerves that proceed 
from the posterior part of the spinal cord and are dis- 
tributed to the entire surface of the body are in a state 
of more or less anaesthesia on account of this class of 
nerves being brought under the influence of sleep. 



Sleep and Dreamiitg. 115 

Having thus briefly considered the nerves connected 
with the operations of the mind as they are found to 
crop out upon the exterior of the body in reference to 
the suspension of their functions in sleep, let us now 
extend our observations to the sleep of the brain, which 
is the great mind-center of the nervous system. In those 
cases where a portion of the bony covering that envel- 
ops the brain has been removed so as to expose this 
organ to view, it has been found that, during sleep, 
the brain is sunken and lying almost motionless within 
the cavity of the cranium. The brain is subject to 
two motions (and only two): one corresponding with 
the movements of the heart and circulation of the 
blood, the other with the movements of respiration. 
Both these movements are, therefore, purely mechan- 
ical, so far, at least, as the brain is concerned, and not 
the effect of the operations of mind upon this organ. Dur- 
ing dreamless sleep these movements of the brain are 
but slight; in vivid dreams they are greater; while in 
the waking condition they are still more strikingly 
manifested, so that the brain is disposed to rise and fill 
the cavity made by the absence of the bony covering. 
Dreaming is purely an action of the mind, separate, 
as we have said, from the brain. When, therefore, these 
operations are vivid and terrif3dng, the emotions some- 
times become greatly aroused. It is a well-known fact 
that any high degree of emotional excitement, whether 
awake or asleep, always has more or less effect upon 
the movements of the heart and lungs; hence the effect 



116 Origin^ of the Soul. 

of these indirect mechanical movements frequently be- 
comes less strikingly manifested in the brain during 
sleep than when awake. It must not be forgotten that 
the relation of the soul to the body is that of a personal 
cause; that it has two classes of powers — the unconscious, 
instinctive, which stand in constant causal relation to 
the cells and functions of "organic life;^' and the con- 
scious, whose operations, wten awake, are connected 
with the brain and spinal nerves. The last-named pow- 
ers are subject to great interruption, being sometimes 
completely suspended, as in unconsciousness and in 
periodic sleep. Whenever, therefore, in the waking 
state, one class of these powers, as the latter, become 
greatly disturbed, they may exert such an influence 
upon the involuntary class as to produce either an ex- 
alting or depressing effect upon the functions of organic 
life, and vice versa. For example, where the emotional 
feelings of the soul become greatly aroused, as they 
sometimes are in dreaming, the effect is felt or expe- 
rienced throughout the soul, so as to disturb its uncon- 
scious powers, which at all times operate in connection 
with the cells and functions of organic life, even while 
the brain continues in undisturbed sleep, and hence 
entirely independent of any transmission of impressions 
through this nerve-center. The brain, then, always 
remains in a state of more or less complete functional 
inactivity during sleep, being subject only to slight 
mechanical movements caused by the effect of the ac- 
tion of the heart and lungs upon the circulation of the 



Sleep and Dreaming. 117 

blood in the brain. The quantity of blood in this 
organ is somewhat lessened at these times, owing, no 
doubt, in part to a slight shrinking of the cerebral mass, 
which tends to diminish the caliber of its blood-vessels. 
Dreaming is an action of the mind which can not take 
place in the waking state of the nervous system. Hence 
it is the body that sleeps and the mind that dreams. 
In other words, it is the cerebro-spinal system of nerves 
that sleep, while the ganglionic system of nerves do 
not cease their functions either awake or asleep. If 
the brain did not sleep it would soon become an unfit 
instrument for the mind to employ, and the entire 
system would in a short time become a complete wreck 
on account of general nerve enervation or prostration. 

Innervation and enervation of the nervous system 
are both, then, necessary conditions of our nature. The 
one is the result of supply, the other is the result of 
waste. Both are, therefore, normal conditions, and both 
are sometimes abnormal. Thus through an excess of 
the nerve-fluid the excitability of the different sense- 
organs may become greatly exalted, as in hyper- 
sesthesia; while an exhaustion of this fluid, as when 
suddenly falling below the normal standard required' 
for sleep, may sometimes result in syncope, or in paraly- 
sis of the nerves — a condition in which the mental 
operations connected with the paralyzed part will, as 
in the case of the paralysis of the sense-organs, become 
partially or entirely suspended. 

We have said that, in order to keep up the requisite 



118 Origin of the Soul. 

supply of normal energy, nutrition must, in all cases, 
be equal to the waste of nerve-matter, which is required 
to innervate the nervous system. If, therefore, any part 
of the nervous system should, from any cause whatever, 
fail to receive the proper supply of nutritive elements, the 
part in which this failure takes place will be unable, 
for want of sufficient innervation, to ser\^e the mind in 
relation to the particular function of such part; and, 
until nutrition becomes restored to its proper standard, 
paralysis and often atrophy of the nerve will be the 
result. Thus, if the necessary nutrient supply of nerve- 
cells for generating the nerve-current should fail to be 
furnished in regard to the optic nerve-centers, functional 
paralysis or amaurosis of these nerves would then take 
place. If like failure should occur in the auditory nerve- 
centers, paralysis of these nerves and deafness would be 
the result. And where similar failure takes place in a 
nerve-supplying one of the muscles, in that case we 
should have paralysis of the muscle to which the nerve 
is distributed. The same result follows where the flow 
of the nerve-current is interrupted, either by lightning, 
ligature, pressure, or by wounds of the trunk of the 
nerve. In cases where the flow of this current has been 
suddenly arrested in one of the hemispheres of the 
brain, hemiplegia or paralysis of one side of the body 
will take place; and if the disturbance in the generation 
of the nerve-current should extend to the sentient track 
of the paralyzed side, complete anaesthesia, or suspen- 
sion of the sensibility of that side, will supervene. 



Sleep and Dreaming. 119 

The view which we have here taken in regard to 
the causes that lead to the withdrawal of the mental 
operations from their connection with the brain and 
nerves of "animal life" during the sleep of this part of 
the nervous system, will also serve to throw light upon 
some of the heretofore mysterious and unexplained mor- 
bid conditions of the functions of the nervous system. 
For instance, the enervation of the nerves at the ap- 
proach of sleep, and the enervation which takes place in 
paralysis, are in some respects quite similar, as both con- 
ditions depend upon a diminution, or more or less ap- 
proach to a complete suspension, of the flow of the 
nerve-current; but the}^ differ from each other in this 
respect, that in sleep the equilibrium is restored again 
by the nutritive functions, while in paralysis the nu- 
tritive operations fail to supply the deficiency, both 
when awake and when asleep. They also differ from the 
circumstance that in sleep the suspension of the nervous 
operations generally extends to the whole brain and all 
its immediate nerve-connections, while in paralysis, on 
account of failure in the nutrition of some particular 
part, the suspension of the nerve-functions commonly 
extends to a single nerve, or to only a part of the nerv- 
ous apparatus. In the one case, the suspension of the 
mental operations are normal, and hence only tempo- 
rary; in the other, the suspended functions are abnormal 
and more or less persistent — persistent on account of 
the total failure of the nutritive supply of innervating 
nerve-cells, which furnish the nerve-current to the part 



120 Okigin of the Soul. 

affected — resulting in what is commonly called paralysis 
from some occult, functional disturbance of the nerves 
affected. In sleep the functions of all the nerves of 
sense are suspended; but the mind, continuing its oper- 
ations, as in dreaming, may, on account of the return 
of the innervating current, recover its action upon the 
nerves of sense the same as before; while in paralysis, 
for the want of the return of this innervating fluid, the 
mind fails to regain its action in connection with the 
nerves of the paralyzed part. 

Sleep, then, may be termed a temporary enervation 
of the brain and nerves, while paralysis is a more or less 
permanent enervation of some particular part of the 
nervous system. Natural sleep is enervation attended 
with reparation, while paralysis may be regarded as 
enervation unattended by the nutritive process of repa- 
ration. Hence sleep is transient — paralysis, more or less 
permanent. The accumulation of nervous energy awak- 
ens us spontaneously, and, as it were, insensibly, upon 
the occasion of the slightest feeling of disturbance, 
either internal or external. In paralysis this feeling of 
energy is absent on the side affected; tlie insensible limb 
hangs like a dead weight to the side of the body. We 
have a remarkable exemplification of the influence of 
sleep upon the muscular centers in shaking palsy 
(paralysis agitans), where the muscular movements sud- 
denly cease immediately upon the sleep of these nerves, 
and as suddenly return upon the return of their wake- 
fulness, thus clearly demonstrating that sleep extends 



Sleep and Dreamin^g. 121 

from the nerve-centers of the brain through the entire 
spinal column of nerves. 

As ^regards the precise nature of the nerve-fluid — 
whether it is an electro-chemical agent, or w'hether it 
is electro-magnetic, physiologists are at the present time 
undecided. Dr. Brown-Sequard says (in his Boston lec- 
tures on the nervous system, 1874) that nerve-force is 
a unit somewhat allied in its properties to electricity or 
galvanism. If this view be correct, it is not an agent 
of differentiating power; it does not produce the varied 
sensibilities of the sense-organs; it only aids in the 
functions of the organs in supplying to each a necessary 
agent which is requisite in the performance of the dif- 
ferent functions of these organs in connection with the 
operations of the mind. It is the psychical agent that 
constructs the organs of the body, and so differentiates 
their structure and functions as to suit its higher oper- 
ations, whic*h we call mind. Thus the unconscious 
powers of the soul, in connection with the vital agent, 
constructs cells by its nutritive action for the use of 
the higher conscious operations, so that one class of 
the psychical powers furnishes the necessary requisite 
for the operations of the other. One class of powers 
forms cells for the other class to consume in the liber- 
ation of a subtle force to aid in the performance of cer- 
tain cell-functions, which are absolutely necessary to the 
production of sense-perception, which is one of the first 
conscious acts of the soul in the development of the 
mental powers. These facts tend to confirm the view we 



122 Oeigin of the Soul. 

have heretofore set forth, that the soul, hy one class 
of its powers, builds the body as a proper instrumental- 
ity to be used in the performance of its conscious oper- 
ations, and for the purpose of providing its successor 
in the propagation of species. It is for these purposes — 
and for these alone — that the body is formed through 
the agency of the unconscious, instinctive powers of the 
soul. 

We might add in this connection that a somewhat 
similar toning influence is carried on through the 
ganglionic system of nerves, which are ramified in con- 
nection with the countless blood-vessels distributed to 
the minute parts of the system, thus supplying a neces- 
sary, subtle agent for the chemico-vital processes going 
on in the myriads of microscopic cells of which the body 
is composed. In this way we may often account for 
defective nutrition attended with great bodily waste 
caused by deficient tonicity; or upon the other hand 
for an excess of nutrition, giving rise to obesity from 
an excess of the toning influence carried on in this sys- 
tem of nerves. There is no doubt a subtle agent sup- 
plied by these nerves, which supplements the psycho- 
vital forces operating in the cells of organic life. If 
this be the correct view, any great deficiency of this 
toning influence occurring in the so-called trophic cells 
and nerves of the part may often result in disease, or 
even gangrene and death of such part. 



Sleep and Dreaming. 123 

Section 2. — ^Dreaming. 

Having thus briefly considered the nature of the 
nerve-current, both in its relations to the waking and 
sleeping conditions of the body, in reference to its ton- 
ing influence upon the nerves of "animal life" and those 
of "organic life/' let us now turn our attention for a 
short time to the mental operations, and see what 
changes are taking place in regard to the secondary or 
mental powers of the soul during the sleep of the brain 
and nerves of sense. Every physiologist will admit that 
during normal sleep all the nerves of special sense are 
asleep, and hence are not performing their office in the 
several sense-organs. And all physiologists and pathol- 
ogists admit that the brain must sleep in order to main- 
tain its healthy condition, such as is required for the 
performance of the mental operations. We have defined 
sleep to be the rest or normal suspension of the functions 
of that part of the nervous system concerned in the 
operations of the mind; and as the mental operations 
continue during sleep, as in dreaming, it is necessary, 
in order to afford the opportunity for the sleep of the 
nervous system, that these operations should cease to 
exert their activities upon this part of the nervous sys- 
tem, otherwise they would perpetuate the continuance 
of the waking condition. The mind then, in the waking 
state, must link its action with the cells of the brain 
and with the cells of the nerves of sense, in order to 
maintain its relation and intercourse with the objects 



124: Okigin of the Soul. 

of the external world, while in sleep it must with like 
certainty act disconnectedly or separately from the cells 
of the brain, the nerves of sense, and consequently in- 
dependently of the external world. In this way the 
opportunity is afforded for the necessary rest and reno- 
vation of the wasted cells of which the bodily organs 
are composed. In the waking state of the nervous sys- 
tem the mental operations are therefore intra-organic, 
while those which take place in dreaming are supra- 
organic — super-sensible. There is, then, but one step 
between the mental action connected with the organic 
and that which is hyperphysical; and that step is taken 
every night of our lives. 

The withdrawal of the mental operations from the 
nervous system generally takes place so gradually and 
insensibly to us, in sleep and dreaming, that at the last 
moment of our wakefulness we do not, at the time of 
its occurrence, have any knowledge or consciousness 
whatever of its taking place, until after the period of 
sleep has terminated. Indeed, so readily and insensibly 
do we glide over the margin that separates one state from 
the other — from that of the waking brain operation to 
the independent and spontaneous action of the mind in 
dreaming — that we never feel the change from one state 
to the other, from waking to dreaming. But on the 
contrary, we always believe at these times that we are 
awake and acting through the bodily senses upon the 
objects of the physical world. We do not seem to recog- 
nize the fact that any change whatever has taken place, 



Sleep and Dreaming. 125 

either in regard to the inner senses which are then em- 
ployed, or to the class of phenomena which they bring 
to our notice. In fact, so readily and insensibly do we 
lose our relations to time and space, that at the outset 
of a dream the mind will often commence representing 
a scene or an occurrence of childhood, which possihly 
may have taken place in Germany or in some other for- 
eign country in which the individual may have resided 
in early life. Indeed, it may be said that in every dream 
we experience we always represent in our immediate 
surroundings that we are oecupying some other place 
than the one in which the body is at the time reposing. 
The scenes presented to our observation while in this 
state do not appear to us simply as something remem- 
bered in regard to the past, but always as something 
then occurring in the presence of the soul; for the scene 
itself is a vision presented to the inner senses, when the 
outer senses of the body are asleep. It has an objective 
relation corresponding to a subjective, mental action 
attended by the same sensations in the soul at these 
times that we experience through the senses of the 
body when the latter are awake. On such occasions 
the soul possesses the power of presenting objectively 
a class of scenery independently of the bodily organs 
and their physical surroundings. Our senses are there- 
fore twofold — an inner and an outer — which alternate 
with the waking and dreaming states. As the eyes of 
the body close to one class of phenomena, the eyes of the 
spirit open to another, in regard to the nature, character. 



126 Oeigix of the Soul. 

and description of which we are now about to speak; for, 
as elsewhere shown, our senses are duplicated; it is not 
the outer sense-organs that see mid hear when awake, 
but the sentient principle that dwells within them. 

In the former part of this work our attention was 
directed more particularly to those instinctive, uncon- 
scious powers of the soul which connect it with the body 
and its physiological functions; but we are now about to 
pass over the boundary-line that connects the soul with 
the body, to enter upon the adjacent borderland^ which 
is presented to our observation in the mysterious realm 
of dreams. In this borderland, where the sleep of the 
brain forms the boundary-line between the present and 
the spiritual operations of the mind, our thoughts, which 
are derived from the impressions of things in the waking 
state, reappear to us as real things in the dream state. 
Besides these appearances, we find other changes taking 
place, such as the increased rapidity of the thoughts, as 
well as certain changes in the operations of the different 
faculties themselves. 

The mental operations, as studied on the waking 
side of the nervous system, have been divided by writers 
on mental science into three distinct classes; viz.. Intel- 
lect, Emotions or Feelings, and Will. In consequence 
of the paralyzing influence which enervation and sleep 
bring upon the brain, the two former are set at liberty, 
as shown by their gTeatly-increased movements, while 
the Will as suddenly drops into comparative inactivity 
or almost complete abeyance. Thus, while the action of 



Sleep and Dreaming. 127 

the latter is placed under restraint, on account of the 
sleep of the brain, the operations of the two former, for 
like reasons, being less closely linked in their operations 
with the cells of this organ, become greatly accelerated 
in their movements. The sleep of the nervous system 
therefore completely truncates the operations of the 
mind in regard to some of its powers — suspending one 
faculty — and at the same time giving rise to an in- 
creased acceleration of others. As a striking exemplifi- 
cation of these facts, we find that, in the waking state 
of the nervous system, the Will not only starts up the 
bodily movements, but has the power of co-ordinating 
all our thoughts into more or less orderly sequence; 
while in dreaming these bodily movements are meas- 
urably suspended, and at the same time the thoughts of 
the mind are unco-ordinated, and hence erratic and in- 
coherent, both in their rise and procedure. So con- 
stantly do these effects take place in regard to the dif- 
ferent faculties of the mind during the sleep of the 
brain, that the laws pertaining to these strange and 
incoherent mental operations are seldom found to vary 
in hundreds of millions of instances that are nightly 
occurring throughout the world. 

If the mental powers did not temporarily drop their 
connection with the brain and nerves of sense in sleep 
and dreaming, this part of the nervous system would 
entirely fail to obtain the repose necessary for the repa- 
ration of the waste of brain substance during the waking 
hours; and experience fully shows that without a resto- 



128 Origin^ of the Soul. 

ration of this kind we should in a short time suffer a 
complete prostration and wreck of the nervous system, 
which would very soon result in more or less mental 
disturbance, such as delirium, mania, or even death 
itself. The action of the Will being suspended in sleep, 
shows that the waking relations of the mind to its in- 
strument have undergone a very decided change, which 
is brought about by the sleep of the brain. If the brain 
were awake during sleep, and the Will exerting its influ- 
ence upon the motor-nerves proceeding from this organ, 
the body would fail to receive its requisite repose, and 
on account of the mind operating upon its instrument 
the millions of earth would all become somnambulists 
every night of their lives. But as the power of the 
Will over our thoughts is suspended at these times, the 
thoughts of the mind are left to drift along without 
any system or government, either in regard to their rise 
or dependence upon each other, hence the great inco- 
herency and inconsistency that take place in our dreams; 
and hence, too, the almost complete inactivity of the 
muscles under the control of the Will. In the waking 
state, the mind acts in the nerve-cells of the brain, not 
only in order to liberate the nerve-current requisite for 
the innervation of the nervous system, but, in conse- 
quence of this connection with the brain, it becomes 
retarded in its movements, so as to give us an oppor- 
tunity to dwell a sufficient length of time upon the 
different objects of sense, thus enabling us to obtain a 
clear perception of each and every object presented. 



Sleep and Dreaming. 129 

Without suc'li connection of the mental operations with 
the cells of the brain, the mind would be unable to direct 
the bodily movements from one place to another. In 
dreaming, the conscious operations of the soul, by losing 
their connection with" the brain-centers, instantly start 
off with a rapidity which greatly surpasses any of the 
operations that take place in the waking state of the 
brain and sense-organs. It is undoubtedly a wise pro- 
vision of our nature that the Will fails to co-ordinate 
the thoughts of the mind at these times; otherwise, our 
whole life would result in confusion, for we should then 
be constantly mistaking one class of these mental oper- 
ations for that of another, which would soon plunge us 
into an inextricable maze of falsehood and error. In 
the waldng state, the mental operations are retarded 
on account of their connection with the cells of the 
brain and nerves of sense, while in the dream state, for 
the want of this connection, these operations are greatly 
accelerated. In the one case the action of the mind is 
intra-physical, while in the other it is hyper-physical — 
supra-organic. 

Besides these changes in the condition of the mental 
faculties, a very remarkable mental power is brought 
to light, which is not recognized in the waking state 
of the organs. I mean that power or faculty which the 
mind possesses of reproducing, or rather representing, 
the phenomena of the external ivorld, as psychical objects 
or transcripts, to the view of our consciousness. We are 
not only conscious at these times of our thoughts and 



130 Origin of the Soul. 

different trains of thought, but we are likewise conscious 
of perceiving a class of objective phenomena displayed 
around us, that is capable of exciting our emotions to 
a very high degree. The phenomena presented to view 
on these occasions often awaken in us emotional feelings 
which are sometimes agreeable, at others intensely ex- 
citing and painful, even to an alarming degree. The 
excitement at these times often surpasses anything 
which we are called upon to experience in the waking 
state of the organs. 

Notwithstanding the remarkable contrast existing 
between the waking and dreaming states, there is in 
many respects a very striking analogy existing between 
them. Thus every action of the mind belonging to the 
waking state may be observed at one time and another 
during the multitude of our dreams, except that of the 
reasoning process, which at these times is almost con- 
stantly held in abeyance on account of the want of the 
co-ordinating power of the will in directing the 
thoughts and arranging them into logical sequence. 
Without the co-ordinating power of the will, reasoning 
would be utterly impossible, either in the waking or 
dreaming states of the mind. In dreaming, we are con- 
scious of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling, re- 
membering, etc. We experience in this state all the 
varied emotions of the mind the same as when awake — 
such as fear, pleasure, pain, love, hatred, etc. In ad- 
dition to these subjective feelings, there is a class of 
phenomena standing in objective array before us, which 



Sleep and Dreaming. 131 

correspond in every respect with the su'bjective thoughts, 
sensations, and emotions of the soul. This class of phe- 
nomena is wholly unobserved in the waking state of the 
body, on account of such phenomena having no direct 
relation to the corporeal senses. How, then, are we to 
account for the presence of such phenomena when the 
body is asleep and the soul engaged in dreaming? We 
answer, there are two classes of phenomena; one ap- 
pears to us only when we sleep, the other appears to 
us only when the brain and senses are awake, and al- 
ways disappear from our conscious presence when the 
external senses are asleep. The one class, then, appears 
to us through the bodily senses, the other independently 
of them. Both are alternately perceived. We are con- 
scious of both, and can describe the appearance of both. 
Both classes alternately intrude themselves upon our 
attention, whether we desire it or not. 

In the waking state the phenomena of the world 
exist independently of us. Each particular phenome- 
non is presented to us through a special sense-organ, in 
which it is perceived; but in dreaming the order is 
changed: the phenomena presented are furnished by 
the soul, as a constant and necessary accompaniment 
of thought;. We can not prevent them from appearing. 
We can not exert any voluntary control over them. 
They comie and go with the thoughts of the mind and 
without our bidding. In this state we can not repro- 
duce a thought without at the same time reproducing 
the phenomenon which originally gave rise to it 



1S2 Oeigin of the Soul. 

through some one of the sense-organs of the body. 
Every thought has relation, therefore, to a phenome- 
non of some kind, as an elementary principle of its pro- 
duction. In dreaming, the plienomenon appears as a 
necessary accomipaniment of the thouglit. Eacli sense- 
phenomenon that appears on the dream side is made up 
from a perception of the waking side. We can prevent 
a sense-phenomenon from appearing on the dream side 
only by preventing its perception from taking place on 
the waking side. For instance, if you destroy any one 
class of the sense-organs at birth, you will then prevent 
that class of perceptions from taking place which stand 
in relation to the disqualified sense. Thus the totally 
blind from birth have no perception or knowledge of 
light or colors when awake, and they have no phenomena 
of this kind j^i^esented to them while dreaming. It is 
different, however^ where total blindness does not occur 
until at or near the period of adult age, when these per- 
ceptions have found a place in the memory. In that 
case the phenomena of light and colors are depicted in 
dreams the same as if no injury had taken place to the 
external visual organ. In those cases in which thoughts 
exist in the mind of the dreamer the phenomena will 
always appear in ready response to the particular char- 
acter and kind of thoughts that arise. Faots like this 
show that the process of dreaming is altogether a mental 
process; hence, where total blindness does not take place 
until adult age, the complete loss of the function of the 
optic nerve and its entire inability to serve the mind 



Sleep and Dreaming. 133 

when awake does not in the least impair or prevent the 
vision of objects from taking place, nor the appearance 
of light and colors in dreams. The power, then, to per- 
ceive visual objects in dreaming is precisely the same 
in those instances where the nerve is incapable of per- 
forming its function when awake, from accident to the 
nerve at adult age, as when it is capable of performing 
its office perfectly, thus showing very conclusively that 
the nerve is not, in either case, contributing any im- 
mediate aid to the dream process, and showing also 
that it is the brain and nerves that sleep and the soul 
alone that dreams. The individual deprived of his 
sight at the age of adolescence, sustaining a complete 
loss of sight at this period of life, when asleep, sees. 
When awake, he is blind. When awake, the phenomena 
of the external world are completely shut out from his 
view; when asleep, the phenomena of the soul alone 
appear. 

It is a well-known fact that the blind from birth 
see no objects in their dreams, but are conscious of feel- 
ing objects the same as in their waking state. This is 
owing to the fact that the soul, during the sleep of 
the tactile nerves, reproduces the tactile feelings per- 
taining to the finger ends independently of this class 
of nerves, and quite as distinctly as when the nerves of 
the hand were performing their function in the w^dcing 
state of the brain. Thus, if he is a musician, he dreams 
of feeling his violin or flute and of hearing the sound of 
well-timed music; perchance he may feel his long since 



134 Oeigin of the Soul. 

absent friends, as it were, about him, and personate 
them by giving to each that intonation of voice which 
pertains to the different characters of his dream. In 
discriminating the different sounds of the voice, as ex- 
pressed in the echoes of his dream-thoughts, he is, at 
such times, as unlikely to commit mistakes as he would 
be when awake — so faithful is the mind while dreaming 
to represent correctly the accompanying phenomena 
pertaining to his thoughts. To him the dream-world, 
like the waking world, is one of total darkness; but at 
the same time it is a world in which he is able to repre- 
sent psychically all the phenomena of the physical world 
that had been previously perceived through the remain- 
ing senses of his body. 

A similar deficiency appears in those who have been 
deprived of the sense of hearing. Thus the deaf from 
birth never dream of hearing sound of any kind, be- 
cause they are entirely unacquainted with sound when 
awake. As the phenomena in dreams depend upon the 
thoughts of the mind, where there are no thoughts 
there can be no phenomena perceived. Hence, where 
there is no knowledge of sound there is no sound ob- 
served in dreams. Unlike the case of the blind from 
birth, the deaf from birth will be able to present, 
through the representation of his dream thoughts, a 
complete facsimile of the appearance of his friends; 
but there will be a total absence of all vocal sound. 
"With him, all conversation must be carried on by signs, 
the same as when awake. AVith those persons who are 



Sleep and Deeaming. 135 

both deaf and blind from birth, their dreams will be 
to them as silent and as dark as the waking world. 
Now, if we increase this deficiency by destroying the 
sense of taste and smell at birth, in that ease there 
would be on the dream side a total absence of all colors, 
sounds, flavors, and odors; but the individual thus situ- 
ated would continue to possess the sense of feeling in 
his dreams, the same as when awake. But if at birth 
he were deprived of this sense also, we should then 
bave an instance in which the mind would be devoid 
of all thought; and without thought dreaming could 
not take place, because in the total absence of thought 
there can be no mental phenomena, and without ob- 
jective phenomena of some kind as a sense-sign, the act 
of dreaming would be utterly impossible. We have 
no living example of this kind to which we can refer, 
except in the womb, where every sense of the body may 
be perfect, but the phenomena of the world being shut 
out from the sense-organs, the effect on the mind in 
reference to mental phenomena would be the same as 
in the supposed example referred to above. The unborn 
infant can not think, can not dream. True to this law, 
then, whatever appears on the waking side appears also 
on the dream side of the mind; and whatever phenome- 
non is completely withheld from the waking side is 
also withheld from the dream side. In dreaming we 
can therefore only represent such phenomena of the 
world as have been perceived by the mind when awake; 
we can dream only of that which we know. 



136 Oeigin of the Soul. 

The foregoing examples show conclusively that all 
our thoughts have their true foundation in our percep- 
tions of things, and that all that class of thoughts which 
relate to essence, to principles and laws, arise in the 
mind in consequence of our perceptions of things and 
their apparent relation to us and to one another. The 
external phenomena — say, of colors — produce in the 
mind a perception of colors. The mind, or, more prop- 
erly speaking, the soul, is then capahle of abstracting 
these one by one until, at last, it may hold but one color 
as an object for consideratio'n and contemplation. We 
may now reason on the particular color thus abstracted, 
and trace it in its relatiou to light and to other colors 
of the spectrum and their bearing upon the phenomena 
of vision. Every color, then, as a physical phenomenon, 
posits its special character upon the conscious Ego. It 
is by means of the acts of perception acquired at differ- 
ent times and through the different sense-organs of the 
body that we obtain a knowledge of the various phe- 
nomena of the world. The perceptions of the external 
phenomena thus acquired are arranged or synthesized by 
the mind (soul) into ideal concepts, which synthesized 
concepts represent the different objects of sense in like 
manner as the letters of the alphabet are arranged into 
words so as verbally to represent our mental concepts. 
Hence the mind, in dreaming, represents the different 
objects of the world by the arranging and rearranging 
of the different phenomenal qualities that enter into 
the m'ake-up of the objects. The complete order and 



Sleep and Dreaming. ^ 137 

arrangement of these objects can not take place except 
where -the faculty of the will is in operation so as to 
bring the thoughts of the mind into logical sequence. 
But in dreaming this faculty is held in abeyance; hence 
the inconsistency and confused appearance of the phe- 
nomena presented on these occasions. There can be no 
thought except it has relation to a phenomenon of some 
kind. In dreaming, the reproduction of the thought 
is always attended with the reproduction of a corre- 
sponding phenomenon which truly represents its ex- 
ternal material prototype. The phenomenon appears, 
the thought does not. We are simply conscious of the 
existence of the thoughts, while the phenomena appear 
a.s an object of sense-peTception ; and as the thoughts 
at these times are unco-ordinated and confusedly ar- 
ranged, so are the phenomena. If the will were acting 
at such times so as to co-ordinate the thoughts, as in 
the waking state, the phenomena would then appear in 
the same order as the phenomena of the external world, 
or as nearly so ^as our intellect could reproduce that 
order. The transition from the waking condition to 
sleep is generally accomplished so suddenly, insensibly, 
and unconsciously that we are never aware of the 
change from one class of phenomena to another until 
we awake. And as the phenomena of the external world 
exist independently of us, so in the dream we are not 
aware that the phenomena presented are the production 
of ourselves; hence we accept everything upon the testi- 
mony of the senses, which we never distrust. 



138 Okigin" of the Soul. 

As all dreams are but the fragmentary reproductions 
of our waking thoughts, if we attempt to unravel the 
tangled skein which is formed by the mind in this state, 
we shall find that every appearance presented to view, 
however strange or unique, may be analyzed or traced 
back by an unraveling process to objects of external 
sense. Thus we can not dream of the hippogriff without 
being first familiar with the forms of the horse, the 
lion, and the eagle. In the rapid flight of thought, these 
ideal forms may combine into a complex concept, so as 
to present to our view objects of a very unique appear- 
ance, such as the winged horse, or hippogrifi, of fable. 
Hence the strange combinations of thought and phe- 
nomena that characterize our dreams. In all such cases 
where compound objects are presented to the senses of 
the soul, their existence is, at the time, like the exist- 
ence of the objects of the waking state, seldom doubted 
or seriously called in question. Nor can we stop to 
correct the errors that may arise while in this condition, 
unless indeed we could be made aware at the time that 
the objects presented were of our own production; but 
in thait case our reason would have to be in full opera- 
tion in order to make the necessary correction. We 
often dream of seeing friends long since dead, but in 
these instances our friends being perfectly represented 
in regard to their features, size, color of the eyes and 
hair, together with the perfect intonations of their voice, 
all of which personate them so completely that we 
never at the time call their immediate presence into 



Sleep and Deeaming. 139 

question. This is owing to the fact that we have al- 
ways been taught to rely on the testimony of the senses 
when awake; and hence we rely equally upon their 
authority when we are dreaming. If, therefore, we 
dream of a friend long since dead, the personification is 
often so distinctly realized by the consciousness that it 
overbalances any mere recollection that we may enter- 
tain in reference to his prior decease; for, whether 
awake or asleep, we always believe in the realization of 
our present sense-perceptions and in the existence of 
the objects by which they are actuated. 

Having thus considered the complete dependence 
of the phenomena of dreaming upon the thoughts of 
the mind, let us, before proceeding farther in this di- 
rection, devote a few moments to the definition of 
thought. Webster defines thought to be "the act of 
thinking; the exercise of the mind in any way except 
sense and perception; reflection." Worcester defines it 
to be: "(1) The act of thinking, or the mental state of 
one w^ho thinks; any state of consciousness which is 
more than mere sensation; cogitation. (2) A creation 
of the mind having distinct existence from the mind 
that created it; an idea; a conception; a conceit; a 
fancy .'^ I would define thought to be a conscious act 
of the soul (mind) in relation to an object of some hind, 
pertaining either to the material or the spiritual. We 
say, a conscious act of the soul; for, as we have already 
remarked, the soul is endowed with a class of uncon- 
scious operations which act in connection with the mole- 



140 Oeigin of thp: Soul. 

cules of the cells in the performance of the involuntary 
functions of "organic life." The last-named powers 
have reference to the molecules of matter, while the 
former class relate to the phe7iomena of matter, as ap- 
pear in the subjects of the external world. The exercise 
of the latter powers pertains to thought, which is a 
conscious act of the soul, having reference to some ob- 
ject. In the waking state, we can not think without re- 
ferring to an object of some kind, either an object of 
sense, or of time, space, substance, quality, cause, or effect. 
If we think of the soul, we think of it as an entity pos- 
sessing capabilities and powers. Thus individuality, 
identit}^, and activity are attributes of the soul. If we 
tliink of the Creator, we think of him as a being hav- 
ing an objective existence and as having certain attri- 
butes, such as infinity, omniscience, omnipotence, and 
omnipresence; and so of everything else, whether it be 
an ohject of sense or not, it is an object of thought, 
referring to something thought of. In every sense-per- 
ception there must be two opposite poles of a relation: 
the percipient mind on the one side, and the object per- 
ceived on the other. Hence, without an object there 
can be no perception, and without perception there can 
be no thought, and without thought there can be no 
such act of the soul as that of dreaming. As all the 
data of our sense-knowledge are obtained from the ex- 
ternal world through the senses of the body furnishing 
the necessary elements of thought, where such data are 
absent, thought is absent. For tliis reason the unborn 



Sleep a^b Dreaming. 141 

infant, having no such data, can not think, can not 
dream. Every object of sense is presented to ns under 
certain relations, such as its relations to us, to one an- 
other, to space, time, cause, and effect. We can not 
think of an object except under some one or more of 
those relations. Every thought must therefore be predi- 
cated upon an object of some kind as its conditionate. 
There are two classes of phenomena that fall within 
the range of our observation and experience: the phe- 
nomena of matter and the phenomena of mind — ^the 
one corporeal, the other psychical. The one class is 
material in its nature, the other spiritual. When awake, 
we perceive only material objects; when asleep, we per- 
ceive nothing but thought-objects. In the totality of 
our experience, therefore, the conscious soul carries with 
it a dream life as well a.s a waking life, a dream phe- 
nomenon as well as a physical phenomenon. Both 
classes are forced upon our attention; both are alike 
perceived. We could not turn away from either if 
we would. We can not dream without an object 
appearing to the inner senses of the soul. We say, 
to the inner senses of the soul; for when the outer 
senses of the body are awake it is not the organ of sense 
that sees or hears, but the sentient principle that con- 
structs these organs and resides within them, giving 
to each its office and functions. One class of objects 
here referred to can be perceived by us only through 
the aid of the sense-organs ; the other class can be per- 
ceived only when these organs of the body are in a 



142 Origix of the Soul. 

state of complete inactivity or rest, as ivlien the nerves 
of sense are asleep. 

In that state of the mind known as dreaming, 
thought and phenomenon are inseparably connected to- 
gether; hence to think in sleep is to dream. Whilst in 
this state, we can not entertain a thought without an 
object, nor an object without an originating or sustain- 
ing thought. Both are the necessary conCiOmitants of 
each other. One is an act of the soul, the other the 
accompanying product of this act. In every act of 
thought the soul produces that particular phenomenon 
to which the thought has special reference. As a com- 
prehending act, the thought-phenomenon is both ap- 
prehended and perceived. The act of forming a thought 
in the mind is therefore the productive act of the phe- 
nomenon which appears in direct relation to and connec- 
tion with it. The soul can not produce one without 
the other. For this reason both are inseparable acts of 
mind. We can not dream without thought, nor form 
a thought without producing an objective phenomenon 
in relation to it.* This being the fact, the phenomenon 
must change with every change of thought. If the 
thought is simple, so is the phenomenon; if the thoughts 
are complex, so are the phenomena that attend them. 
There is, in fact, no more difficulty in the soul produc- 
ing the phenomenal object than there is in its pro- 
ducing the thought to which the phenomenon has re- 



* The true philosophy of the dream-phenomenon will be given 
further on. 



Sleep and Dreaming. 14J^ 

lation. The phenomena, then, which are presented to 
us in dreaming are as mnch a product of a power or 
faculty of the soul as are the thoughts to which they 
stand related. We can no more prevent the phenomena 
from appearing than we can prevent the thoughts from 
arising; for the soul is alike parent of the subjective 
thought and of the objective phenomenon. It is by 
means of this class of powers that we are enabled to 
r-eproduce facsimiles of the phenomena of the external 
world in sleep and dreaming. At all times, and wher- 
ever it goes, the soul carries the phenomenal transcripts 
of the world with it, and may reproduce them over and 
over, again and again, onward and onward forever, in- 
dependently of any immediate connection with the nerv- 
ous system. Inasmuch, then, as these acts are not im- 
mediately dependent upon the functions of the nerves, 
and inasmuch as they can have no practical bearing 
upon the requirements of the present life, they must 
have reference, more particularly, to a life of the soul 
hereafter. But of this anon. 

While engaged upon this branch of our subject, let 
us give a few moments' attention to another question 
in relation to dreaming which is of the highest impor- 
tance; viz.. Have the phenomena that are presented 
to us at these times a real existence around the soul? 
This question is based upon another, Have the thoughts 
of the mind any real existence? As both are only mo- 
mentary in their duration, if the thoughts can be said 
to have an existence, the phenomena have ; for the same 



144 Origin of the Soul. 

evidence iliat may be adduced in favor of the one may 
be brougbt forward in support of the other. In this 
respect both may be said to stand on an equal footing. 
The question has often been asked by metaphysicians. 
Do material phenomena exist? This question has been 
warmly controverted by numerous philosophers of high 
repute. The same evidence that may be adduced to 
establish the existence of the material phenomenon may 
likewise be brought forward in support of the existence 
of the dream-phenom'enon. In this respect the two 
orders of phenomena are placed precisely in the same 
category. Thus, in dreaming, we are conscious of our 
thoughts, and no other evidence short of the testimony 
of our self-consciousness can be adduced in support of 
the existence of thought. We are also conscious of the 
existence of phenomena surrounding us, which are the 
accompaniments of our thoughts, as attested by our 
perceptions of such phenomena and by their influence 
upon us in arousing, at the time, sensations and emo- 
tions in the soul. These sensations and emotions are 
not brought about, as we expect to show, through the 
nerves of the body, but entirely independent of them. 
As consciousness speaks to us with no uncertain 
authority when applied to metaphysical research, and 
as we have no other authority by which to establish the 
existence of the thoughts of the mind, whether awake 
or asleep, or to distinguish them from each other as 
they come and go, but our own self -consciousness, let us 
place this witness upon the stand for the purpose of ob- 



Sleep and Dreaming. 145 

taining definite and reliable information in regard to 
all the facts pertaining to these operations of the mind. 
If we interrogate this witness in regard to the mental 
phenomenon in dreaming, we are assured of not less 
than six separate and distinct facts, as follows: First, 
the consciousness that ive exist; second, that the mind 
is engaged in thought ; third, that the trains of thought 
have reference to some particular subject occupying the 
attention at the time; fourth, that we are often con- 
scious of experiencing certain emotional feelings at 
such times; fifth, that we are conscious of seeing, hear- 
ing, feeling, tasting, etc.; sixth, and lastly, that we are 
conscious of perceiving phenomena around us on these 
occasions, and are often enabled to give a clear and 
distinct description of them in reference to the position 
they occupy in relation to us and to one another. Now, 
if our consciousness is an acceptable witness, one whose 
testimony can be safely relied upon in establishing each 
step of the dream-process, it must be equally authori- 
tative in the last; viz., in establishing the fact of the 
presence and existence of the surrounding phenomena 
which we perceive whilst in this state; for if we should 
once invalidate the testimony of self-consciousness in 
regard to any fact whatever, as in the case of our 
thoughts or the existence of the objects perceived, we at 
once invalidate its veracity as a truthful witness in re- 
gard to each and all the other parts of the dream pro- 
cess, which would involve the whole operation in one 
interminable skepticism; not only so, but in a complete 
10 



146 Oeigin of the Soul. 

Nihilism of the soul and all its phenomenal operations. 
For, as heretofore mentioned, as runs the legal brocard, 
Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus. If the witness's state- 
ment in regard to one class of facts pertaining to the 
question at issue is found to be uniformly and persist- 
ently contradictory and false, it casts a suspicion of 
falsehood upon all its deliverances, especially where 
there is no other witness, nor circumstantial evidence 
that can be adduced to corroborate the testimony in re- 
gard to the other facts in question. If, in dreaming, 
there are no phenomena present, as objectively sur- 
rounding the soul, then there are no perceptions of such 
phenomena in the mind of the dreamer, and, if no per- 
ceptions, no thoughts, no emotional feelings, no con- 
sciousness ; in short, no such thing as a dream. Nor can 
we establish the fact of the existence of the mind which, 
at these times, is supposed to be employed in dream- 
ing, for the reason that the authority we have in support 
of these operations has been found, by a sweeping de- 
nial of its deliverances, to be uniformly deceptive and 
false. Our consciousness is the only true criterion that 
we can adduce to establish the existence of any fact, 
either of mind or of matter, during the waking period. 
It is, indeed, the only authority we can appeal to at any 
time in support of the existence of any of our sensa- 
tions, emotions, or thoughts, when awake. If, there- 
fore, we should invalidate its authority or capability 
to establish any of these facts belonging to the waking 
hour, we would then be entirely unable to prove any 



Sleep and Dreaming. 147 

existence whatever, either of mind or of matter. Let 
this authority, then, be once fairly impeached; let its 
falsity in regard to any one of these points be once 
established, and it might be maintained beyond even 
the power of successful contradiction that there is no 
mind, no world, no soul, no God! According to the 
legal brocard, we must either accept all the testimony 
disclosed by our consciousness, or reject all; for we 
have precisely the same evidence to offer in support of 
the existence of the objective phenomena, that appear to 
us in dreaming that we have in support of the existence 
of the phenomena of the material world. In regard to 
the existence of both classes the evidence is the same 
and the witness the same. Deny the existence of the 
former as objects of our perception, and you completely 
undermine the evidence of the existence of the latter. 
We are bound to accept the existence of both classes 
alike, or ISTihilism. We can not dodge nor gainsay this 
impending conclusion; for there can be no sense-per- 
ception mthout a phenomenon of some kind standing 
in immediate relation to the sense. "Destroy the phe- 
nomenon,^' says Sir William Hamilton, "and you de- 
stroy the perception in relation to such phenomenon. ^^ 
Every perception, then, whether awake or in dreaming, 
must have a phenomenon presented to the sense in 
order fully to awaken such perception in the mind of 
the dreamer; hence, in this state, the same as when 
awake, the perceptions change with each change of 
phenomena, and vice versa. It must not be forgotten 



148 Origin or the Soul. 

that, when awake, it is not the outer senses thai per- 
ceive, but the personal sentient principle that resides 
■within them. 

Sleep may be said to serve a twofold purpose: first, 
to furnish us with an opportunity to rest and recuper- 
ate the nervous system; and, second, to unfold to our 
observation a class of mental operations and laws, with 
their attending phenomena, which are entirely con- 
cealed from us when awake. In the waking state this 
class of phenomena sometimes appear -to the insane, 
with whom there are visions or hallucinations of ob- 
jects of sense that no arguments can satisfy or induce 
them to disbelieve their existence. In cases of this 
nature, where certain morbid conditions of the hrain 
and nerves of sense arise, the mind often fails to operate 
connectedly with its instrument and with some one or 
more of the organs of sense; hence the insane have 
hallueinations of sight and hearing in which the same 
class of mental phenomena appear to them that appear 
to every man in dreams. And as we all believe the 
objects that appear to us in dreaming to be, at the 
time, real — i. e., material objects — so the insane believe 
their perceptions of hallucinated objects to be real; 
hence the insane man often sees and hears what no 
other man sees or hears in the waking condition of 
his nervous system, for the reason thait the hallucinated 
object and the dream object are one and the same — 
spiritual in their nature. The object of hallucination 
is generally more persistent or enduring in its nature 



Sleep and Dreaming. 149 

than the dream object. Our consciousness, then, is no 
false wiitness when it verifies to the insane the presence 
of an object which, on account of the failure to exer- 
cise the rational faculty, they are unable to distinguish 
from corporeal objects. The insane, like the s'ane man, 
always relies upon the testimony of his senses, as yeri- 
fied by the 'authority of consciousness. While dream- 
ing, we all believe that the objects which we perceive 
are material because our experience is with objects of 
this kind, and it is not till after we awake that we are 
enabled to correct the error as to the material nature of 
these objects. 

The phenomena of dreaming have been supposed 
by many to be simply the workings of the imagination, 
and, hence, that they have no existence as objective 
phenomena; that our thoughts are not attended by any 
phenomena or sense-signs; that these only appear to us 
as objects, but do not in reality exist. The term "im- 
agination" is derived from the Latin, imaginatio, which 
oomes from imago, signifying to image. The universal 
acceptation of the term "imagination" is, therefore, an 
admission that the mind has the power of imaging, or 
in some way representing in thought the objects of the 
external world. Without this power to represent the 
world in thought, the sculptor would be unable to 
shape the block of marble into the various forms of 
animated objects. Take away this power of the mind 
to form images of objects, and the hand of the painter 
would fail to guide the brush so as to represent the 



150 Origin of the Soul. 

various objects of a landscape, or delineate in lifelike 
expressions the different forms of the human counte- 
nance. Can the mind, then, portray the phenomena of 
external nature? If it can represent natural phe- 
nomena upon canvas, dreaming clearly demonstrates to 
us that it has a much shorter method of portraying the 
phenomena of the material world in objective thought 
or scenery than it has in representing them upon can- 
vas. When awake, these inner pictures of thought are 
not observable to us, but nature has carefully provided 
for their disclosure by putting to sleep the nervous sys- 
tem, so as to bring them to our notice in dreams. 

The reader will no doubt assail our position by de- 
claring that we are advocating a mechanical theory or 
trigonometry of thought in supporting the existence of 
lines and surfaces to identify the different objects 
brought to view in dreams. But, unlike the objects 
of external nature or the paintings on canvas, the 
lines and surfaces pertaining to the objects of a 
dream last only with the objects or only as the 
momentary thoughts of the mind sustain them, and 
then these lines and surfaces disappear, to give 
place to other thoughts and other phenomena. Dr. 
Reid, who for a long time was supposed to have put 
such questions as the above entirely to rest, triumph- 
antly asks the question. Can a thought, an idea, or an 
affection — such as joy, fear, hope, etc. — be quartered, 
halved, or divided into parts, like that of material 
objects? We answer, No. But in dreaming (a state in 



Sleep and Dreaming. 151 

which th-e phenomena always appear as the emhodimient 
of our thoughts, as products of the mind), if we should 
entertain an idea pertaining to the fractional part of 
some object, such fractional part will instantly appear 
in response to the mental action. Thus, in dreaming 
of a triangle, the triangle may be siepiarated by the mind 
into one of its sides, or into two, and these again may 
be brought together so as to represent an acute angle, 
or any angle that we may at the time entertain. If 
we dream of a field, we may halve or quarter it, as the 
case may be, and so of any object. It is not the mental 
act or thought that appears, but the phenomenon ob- 
jectively produced in response to the thought. That 
which we call joy, hope, hatred, and fear are not pic- 
tures of objects of any kind; they only denote various 
degrees of our feelings, which are expressive of differ- 
ent states of the soul, and consequently do not appear 
in dreams as forms of external things. They are simply 
varied states of our feelings, and not subject to be di- 
vided into fractional parts. 

As the dream phenomena have been denied by the 
metaphysician, the physiologist, and others, as having 
any existence distinct from the mind that produces 
them, so have metaphysicians and philosophers repeat- 
edly attempted to set aside the real existence of the 
objects of material nature. In support of this view it 
has been claimed that the phenomena of the material 
world have no other existence than simply as a physio- 
logical product of our nervons system. Many philos- 



152 Origin of the Soul. 

ophers hold that the optic nerve furnishes, as a physio- 
logical phenomenon, the only light and colors wMch 
we perceive in nature; that outside of the eye and eaj* 
there is no such thing as either light or sound in the 
character in which we perceive them; that independ- 
ently of these organs all nature is both dark and silent. 
They maintain that light, colors, sound, are the sole 
products of the optic and auditory nerveS'. This form 
of idealism has been entertained by many physiologists 
and philosophers of the highest repute. But the limits 
which we have here marked out will not permit us to 
enter a/t length upon this branch of physiological and 
metaphysical inquiry. 

In dreaming, we not only see the phenomena that 
surround the soul, but we perceive the soul itself. The 
fact is patent in those who have sustained a loss of one 
or more of the limbs by amputation that the soul in 
dreaming sees and feels its limbs as present. Though 
years may have elapsed, it never finds itself compelled to 
make use of crutches, but always produces "within itself 
the sensation of walking or running, the same as when 
the body is awake and all the physical limbs present. 
Hence the soul on these occasions always appears per- 
fect, both in regard to form and sensibilit}^ ^o acci- 
dent occurring to our bodily structure at adult age 
(short of the complete destruction of life) ever appears 
to mar or abridge the powers of the soul during the 
dream exercises. I might here parentheticailly remark 
tiiat we never sec the physical body, nor the physical 



Sleep and Dreaming. 153 

world, while dreamdng. It is the personal soul that 
dreams, and it is the personal soul that aippears to us 
at these times. But more of this anon. 

When engaged in the exercise of thought or con- 
templation during the waking hours, we do not feel any 
special sensations in our bodies, such as accompany the 
perceptions of material objects; but in dreaming we 
always experience sensations as the accompaniments of 
our thoughts and the attending phenomena. All the 
sensations which are experienced by the soul through 
the organs of the body when awake are reproduced and 
re-experienced in the reproduction of thought during 
the dream-hours. These sensations take place even 
when one or more of the different sense-organs of the 
body, through which the waking sensations and percep- 
tions were originally experienced, are panalyzed, muti- 
lated, or completely destroyed. If we close our eyes 
when awake, and attempt to xepresent an external scene 
of any kind, we may present it very correctly in our 
thought-conception; but we do not experience, at such 
times, any accompanying sensations in the soul con- 
nected with these thought-exercises. It is well known 
that in the waking condition we 'experience special sen- 
sations in the body only when objects are acting upon 
our organs of sense, while in sleep and dreaming the soul, 
not being then muffled, so to speak, by these organs, 
experiences sensations accompanying the thoughts in- 
dependently of any or all the organs of the body. When 
awake, all our sensations proper take place within the 



154 Origin of the Soul. 

OTgans or nerves of the body, and hence are intra- 
organic; but in dreaming (a sta^te in which the neirves 
of the different senses are asleep) all our sensations ajid 
perceptions of phenomena are supra-organic — hyper- 
physical. In the former case, the sentient powers of the 
soul, being, as it were, mufEed or blunted by their con- 
nection with the nerve-cells of the bodily 'organs, are 
tempered to suit the gross objects of external nature, 
while in the other its powers of sense are greatly height- 
ened and so graduated in their intensity as to be adapted 
to the highly-attenuated mental phenomena that pertain 
to the dream state. 

Having considered some of the objections which 
might be raised against the view we have taken in re^ 
gard to the independence of the soul over the brain 
and senses during the dreams-state, let us now turn 
our 'attention to another important branch of this in- 
quiry. 

Breaming appears to be a separate and distinct 
operation of the mind, differing greatly fro'm any opera- 
tio'n which takes place in the waking condition of the 
organs, so different indeed, that it is utterly impossible 
for the org-ans of the body to keep pace with the mental 
operations. If, however, we should adopt the views of 
Sir Wm. Hamilton, that the soul [mind] is not cap'able 
of either thinking, imagining, or of dreaming, without 
thalami — ^without making use of some one or more of 
the nerve-centers ot the brain — in short, that it is not 
capable of setting up any action whatever independent 



Sleep and Dreaming. 155 

of the brain and nerve-centers, I say, taking this view 
of the psychical powers, an nninterrrupted or continuous 
existence of the soul and its operations would be im- 
possible without an intimate connection with the nerv- 
ous system, without, as Sir Wm. Hamilton expresses 
it, the nerve-centers or "thalami/^ Viewed in the light 
of such a theory, the soul of that much-lamented philos- 
opher would, on the grounds of his own hypothesis, be 
at this moment resting under a cloud of complete un- 
consciousness. But if, 'per contra, we are to regard 
the soul as immortal, it must be on account of a 
class of laws which are capable of continuing their 
action independently of the organs of the body; 
and if such a class of laws exist, they are undoubt- 
edly placed within the reach of our comprehension 
and discovery. But as every attempt that has been 
heretofore made to prove the immortality of the 
soul by means of its operations in connection with the 
organs of the body, as in the waking state, has been a 
complete failure, we must search for this class of powers 
in those opera:tions which spring up independently of 
the bodily organs. We feel confident in asserting that 
it is only in the laws and phenomena of dreaming that 
the independence of the mental operations over the or- 
gans of the body can be established. If to think in 
sleep is to dream, dreaming is undoubtedly as natural 
an operation of the mind as are the waking operations. 
The dream-operations are not only natural, but unavoid- 
able; and he who would regard this subject as entirely 



156 Origin of the Soul. 

unworthy of his attention must, in order to be con- 
sistent with himself, quit dreaming. Let him at least 
make the trial, and if he should fail in his attempt to 
accomplish it, I would then suggest that he give the 
subject a more faithful and earnest attention. For it 
is hardly probable thajt the Creator would have endowed 
the soul with this special class of powers simply to 
frighten man by engaging in nightly sports with his 
intelligence. ,» 

While we -admit that we can not establish an under- 
lying essence to the dream-pbenomxcnon, aside from its 
source, which is the mind; neither can we establish 
the fact of the existence of an essence underlying and 
giving support to the material phenomenon, aside from 
the sustaining power that formed it. In this respect, 
both classes are precisely alike; in both cases the exist- 
ence of an essence rests on supposition only. As the 
lightning that proceeds from the electricity of the cloud, 
and casts momentary illumination upon the earth may, 
or may not be, as far as we have any means of know- 
ing, devoid . of an essence ; so the phenomena of the 
mind, that appear as the 'accompaniments of our 
thoughts, while dreaming, may have no other sustain- 
ing support than that of the mind which produces 
them. The transient light from the cloud is an object 
of our visual perception, and so are the phenomena 
that appear in a dream. Which are the more subtle 
of the two, the phenomena of light or the phenomena 
of mind? Both are alike transient; both produce an 



Sleep and Dreaming. 157 

impression upon the senses. — one upon the outer senses 
of the body, the other upon the senses of the soul. In 
both cases the fact of the existence of the phenomenon 
perceived rests upon the integrity of our conscious- 
ness, while, in regard to both classes of phenomena, 
the fact of an underlying essence rests upon mere sup- 
position. In this respect, both classes are alike — ^both 
are in the same predicament ais it regards the inability 
to prove the existence of an underlying essence. 

It has been elsewhere shown that we are limited in 
the production of the phenomena of mind in dream- 
ing by the extent of our waking perceptions; in other 
words, that the combinations of thought, whi'ch form 
the imagery of our dreams, depend entirely upon orig- 
inal sense-perceptions. This fact was abundantly set 
forth when referring to the absence of certain phenom- 
ena which take place in those cases where deafness and 
blindness have existed from birth. The former can no 
more dream of sound, nor the latter of light and colors, 
than the unborn infant can represent in a dream any 
of the great cities of the world. The fundamental laws 
of the soul governing such cases are, in this respect, as 
definite and unalterable as are the laws that govern 
the movements of the planetary system. In dreaming, 
the mind commonly reconstructs the objects of sense 
in a more or less confused and irregular manner, for 
the reason that, in those operations, we are limited to 
our former perceptions of external objects; and, being 
deprived of the co-ordiniating power of the will, the 



158 Origin of the Soul. 

rise of thought generally takes place without any due 
system of procedure; hence the failure to reconstruct 
the mental objects in the order in which we originally 
perceived them when awake. Thus, if we should dream 
of the fabulous mermaid, it is because, in the rapid 
flight of unco-ordinated thought, we are presented 
simultaneously with two distinct ideas — ^that of a 
woman and of a fish; and, by the sudden blending 
of these ideal concepts into a single thought-conception, 
we are instantly confronted, in the confused array of 
the mind's objective imagery, with the noted nymph 
of fable*. 

In dreaming of an orange, we synthesize or re- 
produce, in our mental operations, all the simple sense- 
qualities that enter into the combination of the orange ; 
and so we may dream of a peach simply by the mind 
making the necessary changes of the different sense- 
qualities of the former fruit into those which are re- 
quisite to make up the proper combinations of the lat- 
ter, thus changing the thick, corrugated rind, color, 
juiciness, flavor, odor, etc., of the former into the 
qualities and flavor of the latter. So, if we should 
dream of eating an orange or a peach, we experience 
the same sensations and respective perceptions of flavor, 
etc., awakened and apprehended in the soul, that are 
perceived when the above fruit is brought in contact 
with our nerves of sense in the waldng state of the 
bodily organs. The act of dreaming is, therefore, simply 
a repetition or reproduction by the soul of all the 



Sleep and Dreaming. 159 

sensations 'and perceptions of our waking life. We are 
apparently living our life over again! 

In the waking state, there is no exercise of the 
mind that is more comm'only carried on than the com- 
bination and recombination of ideas. These combina- 
tions take place in more or less true logical order, 
while in dreaming they are very frequently destitute 
of thii'S order, being then governed exclusively by the 
laws relating to the association of ideas and the mental 
law of suggestion, such as the appearance of one object 
suggesting to the mind another. Were the will in 
operation on these occasions, co-ordinating the thoughts 
of the mind, as in the waking state, the presentation 
of the fabulous m-ermaid above mentioned would not 
have taken place, unless, indeed, it bad been purposely 
directed through the aid of the voluntary faculty, in 
which case we could produce, not only this object, 
but any other similar combination of thoughts and ob- 
jects at the pleasure of the mind. In all such cases, 
however, we should be as much compelled to make 
use of the familiar qualities of external objects of sense 
in the formation of every new combination of ideal 
images as we are compelled, in the written formation 
of words, to make use of the letters of the alphabet. 
In dreaming, all the operations of thought are brought 
to view as they combine and reoombine in the alembic 
of the mind; but in all our mental combinations, we 
are, at such times, mainly limited to the phenomena 
of sense-knowledge; and hence we can dream only of 



160 Origin of the Soul. 

what we know. As an illustration of this, what man 
oould have represented, in a dream, a steam-engine be- 
fore it was invented by Watt, or Hoe's printing-press, 
with its numerous cylinders in rapid motion, throwing 
off their twenty thousand impressions per hour, before 
the invention of the steam-press? Or who could have 
represented in a dream Morse's telegraph, or a loco- 
motive and train of cars, in their present state of per- 
fection, one hundred years ago? 

Let us now pass to the consideration of another very 
singular but highly interesting part of our subject; viz., 
the remarkable power displayed by the soul in what 
may be called excursive dreams. While dreaming, we 
often seem to be journeying from one point to another, 
and from one country to another, when, at the same 
time, the soul is connected with the body, and the 
latter quietly reposing upon a bed of sleep. Let us 
give a few moments consideration to these remarkable 
operations, and see if 'any satisfactory solution can be 
given in regard to such transactions as those which 
the soul — not the bod}^ — appears to be performing dur- 
ing the fleeting hours of sleep. It is through the exer- 
cise of thought that the soul dreams, and every train 
of thought is accompanied with such objective scenery 
as will delineate some particular place that we seem 
at the time to be occupying. When awake, we be- 
come familiar with places only by means of certain 
objects that designate them; but in sleep the space 
which we seem to be then occupying is filled up solely 



Sleep and Dreaming. 161 

by though't-phemomena, so that, as our thoughts change^ 
they always present us with changes in the surrounding 
scenery. For this reason every essential change of ob- 
jective scenery represents a different 'place from the one 
which we had previously occupied. Thus, changes of 
thought are attended with changes of scenery, and the 
change of scenery represents, as it were, a new place 
corresponding with the character of the scenery pre- 
sented, for any particular place can be designated only 
by the objects it contains. The phenomena attending 
the succession of thought not only represent a portion of 
space, but each succeeding concept of thought and place 
represents a succession of time. Thus, if our thoughts 
revert to some part of our former life, we represent in 
our dream both the place and the period referred to, 
so that, in the rapid flight of thougb.t which takes place 
at these times, we have both time and space successively 
presented to our view. In these rhythms of thought, 
time flies during the transactions of a dream with the 
same rapidity as that with which the thoughts of the 
mind succeed each other. Every successive change of 
scenery therefore represents a change of place, and every 
change of place represents, as in the waking state, a 
movement through some part of space. So in regard 
to time we have no other means of determining a true 
standard of time than that which is observed to take 
place in the changes of thought-phenomena, for at 
such times the course of external nature is completely 
concealed from our observation. The space through 
11 



162 Origin op the Soul. 

which we appear to be traveling, and the time which 
seems to be required to perform our journey, are then 
measured by the numerous transitions which crowd upon 
us, coupled also by the experience which we have had 
in like performances when awake and operating in con- 
nection with the bodily movements. At such times we 
generally represent ourselves as occupying a different 
place from that of the chamber in which the body is 
reposing, and as undergoing constant changes of place 
by the constant change of scenery which the mind pre- 
sents to our view. 

But to present this subject in a more familiar way, 
let us suppose that in a dream we set out to visit some 
particular place, say, if you please, the Queen City of 
the West. If we dream of seeing a city, the latter is at 
once presented to our view, because in that case we do 
not entertain any idea of intervening space separating 
us from the object thought of; but where such an idea 
as that of intervening space is dominant in the mind, 
we must set about to overcome the space so entertained. 
How, then, is this to be accomplished? At the outset 
of our proposed visit let us suppose that we select the 
cars as our mode of conveyance, representing in thought 
the place of starting, which, for convenience of narra- 
tion, we will call our premises. Let us suppose, then, 
that by a regular rise of thought we represent success- 
ively in the dream the buildings, pavement, fences, and 
trees, until we reach our depot. IsTow, if our trains of 
thought are not disturbed by any irrelevant interludes, 



Sleep and Dkeaming. 163 

such as may serve to divert us from our original inten- 
tion, we will be very apt to find the hissing locomotive 
and train ready for moving. As the mind creates all its 
own surroundings, so we find our place in the car, the 
bell rings, the engine whistles, and off we go, feeling 
subjectively in the soul — not in the sleeping nerves of 
the body — a class of sensations like that of the vibrat- 
ing motions of a moving train. To dream is not simply 
to think, see, and hear, but also to feel. We not only 
represent the car in motion, but furnish it with person- 
ages, giving to each a separate and distinct vocal ex- 
pression. And whil» seemingly engaged in promiscu- 
ous conversation, we personate each one by a different 
class of features, as well as a different tone of voice. 
In case there are no disturbing influences to break up 
the chain of this moving panorama of thought, we 
daguerreotype, as it were, trees, fences, farms, land- 
scapes, etc., with more or less rapid succession until we 
arrive in thought at the place of our destination, which 
we readily designate by the surrounding appearances — 
at once projecting in phenomena of thought the city in 
dream or vision. The streets will appear lined on either 
side with buildings, and filled with a busy multitude of 
moving forms. Instead, now, of experiencing in the 
soul that class of sensations which a moment before had 
accompanied us on our moving train, we have the 
sensations of walking on pavements of brick, wood, or 
stone. Each moment, as it flies, is accompanied by a 
class of sensations that tally with every important 



164 Okigin of the Soul. 

change of thougiit and scenery. If during these exer- 
cises of thought and memory we conclude to visit the 
Esplanade, this part of the city with its fountain will 
at once appear; and, as dreams constitute a certain part 
of our experience, we will be apt in that case to feel 
sensations of falHng spray descending, as it were, like 
gentle distillation upon the sentient and respondent 
soul, because everything which we then experience, both 
in thought and sensation, makes up a part of the web 
and woof of our dream-Hfe. But while the soul is thus 
experiencing the different sensations attending the 
changes of scenery and place, it is at the same time con- 
nected to the body by another class of its powers — 'the 
unconscious, instinctive — which prevent it from mov- 
ing one iota from the place or couch upon which its 
unwieldy partner is reposing in sleep. Hence, while 
one class of the psychical powers are repeating the oper- 
ations of our conscious life, the other class, whose in- 
stinctive action is unremitting, continue to maintain 
the various functions of organic life. These different 
psychical operations are not, however, so independent 
of one another as to be wholly free from all disturbing 
influences upon each other. For instance, where the 
unconscious powers become disturbed through morbid 
influence operating at any part of the system, this pain- 
ful influence, being felt by the sentient soul, gives rise 
to more or less disturbance to the course of the dream- 
thoughts; hence one of the frequent diversions which 
so often takes place in dreaming. To illustrate, if the 



Sleep and Deeaming. IGo 

vital functions suffer seriously^ as is sometimes the case 
in severe forms of febrile disease, we often have more or 
less disturbance of the mental operations, and vice versa. 
Hence any great emotional excitement may, by its gen- 
eral depressing effect upon the soul itself, instantly over- 
whelm and completely break down the vital functions, 
resulting sometimes in immediate death. In sleep these 
disturbing influences are tiot transmitted through the 
ganglionic system of nerves to the sleeping nerves of the 
brain, but are felt directly in the sentient, personal soul 
itself, for it is not the nerves that are sentient or that 
feel on these or on -any other occasions, but the personal, 
•sentient principle that resides within them and ani- 
mates the nerves of the several parts, and thus through 
its differentiating powers gives to each part its own par- 
ticular sensation and function. It is the office of the 
soul to feel, and the body, as its instrument, to respond 
through subtle agents generated in the nervous system 
by the decomposition of nerve-cells formed for such 
purpose. But to return: — 

During an excursive dream the mind presents to its 
own observation a moving panorama of phenomena ac- 
companied with sensations of motion so similar to the 
waking state, that, as the panoramic scenery of our 
thoughts successively change, we seem to be moving 
through a portion of space corresponding to the changes 
in the scenery presented. The soul thus repeats, more 
or less distinctly, those thoughts and sensations which 
it so often experiences in connection with the sense- 



166 Origin- of the Soul. 

organs of the body, when these organs are awake, so 
that we are at such times really living our life over 
again in an inner and spiritual way. Indeed, so faith- 
ful is the mind to repeat the past on these occasions, 
that it actually imposes upon itself, for it always appears 
to us that we are awake and acting upon the organs 
of the body in relation to the physical world. We never 
suspect, when we are dreaming, that the soul is capable 
of performing such a wonderful work as to represent 
the objects of the material world in such a manner as 
to be able to reproduce all the attending circumstances 
and sensations pertaining to our physical life. In order 
fully to understand these operations of the mind, we 
must, immediately upon awaking from sleep, review 
the course of our dream before the waking thoughts 
intrude upon us, and distract us from the fleeting pano- 
rama which had just closed upon our attention. We 
must take an immediate retrospective view of the differ- 
ent senses which were brought into play at the time, 
so as to recall through our remembrance the varied 
sensations that attend the different parts of the dream- 
operations — such as that of seeing, hearing, tasting, 
smelling, feeling — both general and tactile. In this way 
we shall often be enabled to recall many of the occur- 
rences, both subjective and objective, that spring up in 
the course of our dream exercises. 

Thus by a careful retrospection of the different parts 
of the dream- excursion, we will find the same kind of 
sensations arising within us that we experience in our 



Sleep and Dkbaming. 167 

journeyings when awake. !N"ot knowing, at these times, 
that we are the originators of the objective scenery, 
and feeling the same sensations that usually attend upon 
the presence of physical phenomena, our judgment is 
imposed upon; we have the appearance of moving 
through space, when in fact our bodies are at rest — the 
mind alone furnishing the sensations and the objective 
scenery. We often experience a somewhat similar de- 
ception to this in our waking moments, as when we are 
in a boat pushing out from the shore, not feeling the 
motion of the boat, the shore and its objects appear 
to be moving away from us, when in fact we are in 
motion, and the objects on shore are stationary. So in 
regard to our motion in space, the sun, moon, and stars 
appear to rise and set, while in fact they are stationary, 
and we are in motion; but, not feeling the movement of 
the earth, our judgment (unless based upon proper re- 
flection) is imposed upon. In both these examples it 
requires an act of reason to dispel the illusions of the 
sense; but in dreaming, our reason can not be brought 
into requisition for the want of the co-ordinating in- 
fluence of the will; hence we can not correct the errors 
which the mind falls into at such times. But the errors 
to which we here allude, belonging alike to the dream- 
ing and waking states, do not in the least invalidate the 
integrity of our consciousness as reporting the presence 
of objects. The error which we labor under at the time 
is an error of judgment, and not of the sense and con- 
sciousness. We have here two orders of phenomena 



168 Origin of the Soul. 

presented to ns alternately — the one, being material, is 
stable and fixed in its nature; the other is spiritual, or 
rather psycho-spiritual in its nature, and hence is con- 
stantly changing as the thoughts of the mind change. 
Whenever, therefore, the percipient mind ife suddenly 
and imperceptibly wheeled from the presence of the 
former class of objects into the presence of the latter 
(as when passing from wakefulness to sleep), it views 
everything presented to the sense as from a physical 
standpoint, and accordingly attributes to this new order 
of things the same laws as those which pertain to ex- 
ternal nature. 

As all the phenomena of dreaming are dependent 
upon the mind, appearing in perfect parallelism with its 
thoughts and sensations, if in these exercises the will 
were exerting a control over the mental movements the 
dream excursion referred to above would have pro- 
ceeded with as much regiilarity as like movements in 
the waking world, but with greatly-increased rapidity. 
We should under such circumstances be able to stop at 
any point of our procedure, and dwell upon the 
thoughts, the objective scenery, and the subjective sen- 
sations that spring up within us, in consequence of the 
presence of the former, the same as when awake. There 
would be in this inner life of the soul as perfect a reali- 
zation as that which the waking state affords; but every- 
thing would be conducted in a purely spiritual manner, 
l^othing would appear to us at such times but the soul 
with its emotions^ sensations, thoughts, and their at- 



Sleep and Deeaming. 169 

tending phenomena. This class of mental powers, how- 
ever, can not attain to their highest order of perfection 
whilst the soul is connected Math the body, on account 
of the sleeping brain exerting in some mysterious way 
a restraining influence over the operations of the will, 
as is shown to every one in the quasi-spiritual state of 
dreaming. In the waking state we can perceive only in 
our bodies, and hence must go to the place where the 
objects are in order to perceive them, while in dreaming 
this order is reversed, the soul furnishes the objects to 
us in the form of a vision. And were we capable of 
reasoning at these times, we might, by a process of the 
abstraction of ideas, restrain the flow of thought so as 
to stop at any point of our procedure, and contemplate — 
for an hour at a time — the objects of our dreams. 

There is a mixed state of dreaming and waking, 
known as somnambulism, in which some of the bodily 
senses are asleep while others are awake, connecting us 
at the same time with the waking-world and with the 
dream-world, which we shall consider further on. 

Although dreaming is a common exercise of the 
mind — one which has occupied a very large share of 
every man's time that has appeared upon the stage of 
action — yet there is perhaps no subject within our im- 
mediate knowledge that has received as little attention 
from a true, scientific point of view as the one before 
us. As a class of mental operations, these powers have 
been held in universal contempt, and as being of little 
or no utility to us in any practical way. But notwith- 



170 Origin op the Soul. 

standing this general neglect and widespread contempt 
on our part, these powers have been shown to be of the 
highest practical importance by the beneficent Author 
of our being. When we consider the large amount of 
our time which has been spent in these exercises, and 
the little estimate that men have placed upon them, we 
are the more reminded of the importance bestowed upon 
them by their selection and approval as a suitable 
medium through which to communicate a special reve- 
lation to man. It is remarkable, indeed, that the brain 
and sense-nerves should have been first put to sleep, and 
that the state of the mind known as dreaming should 
have been selected, in preference to the waking state 
of this organ, in order to make known to us important 
facts in regard to a future state of existence; and yet 
such has been the case. Whilst man has constantly, 
and I may say persistently, underrated this class of his 
mental operations, the Creator has honored them with 
the highest degree of importance. Indeed, these oper- 
ations, when brought under the controlling influence 
of the will, far outstrip those of the waking state. 
Could we always reason in our dreams, we should then 
have a deliberative, spiritual state of the mind wholly 
unattainable by the use of the bodily organs during the 
waking period. 

A A revelation communicated to the soul in sleep must 
proceed upon the basis that the consciousness may be- 
come the recipient of knowledge at such times, and thait 
there are other senses which may be called into requi- 



Sleep and Dreaming. 171 

sition besides those of the bod}^; and also that these 
senses may be the recipient of other phenomena besides 
the material. It is a well-attested fact that onr intel- 
lect is percipient of a certain class of phenomena while 
asleep and acting separately from the brain and bodily 
senses, of which the latter senses receive no impression. 
The principal reason, no doubt, for selecting this con- 
dition, in preference to the waking state of the brain 
and organs of sense, is that in external nature everything 
proceeds in accordance with fixed laws; while in dream- 
ing, a phenomenon of any kind — ^it matters not how 
strange or how remarkable the phenomenon to be ad- 
duced — may be instantly produced simply by evoking 
the natural laws of the soul, a class of laws that are 
being constantly presented to our observation when the 
body is asleep. In these operations phenomena of the 
most extraordinary kind and character may be pro- 
duced in a moment of time without offering the slight- 
est disturbance to the quiet order that reigns in external 
nature. Hence dreaming or vision, as it is sometimes 
called, has been generally selected, whenever any re- 
markable occurrence or display of phenomena was in- 
tended to be presented to the eye of the prophet or seer. 
There are, then, two very different classes of phenomena 
and of inlets by which the consciousness may be ap- 
proached; viz., the outer senses which belong to the 
body, and which place us in connection with the phe- 
nomena of matter; and the inner, which belong exclu- 
sively to the soul. Even when awake it is not the 



172 Origin of the Soul. 

external organs of the body that see and hear, but the 
sentient principle that resides within them and uses 
these organs only as an instrumentality. All revela- 
tion made to the soul when the body is asleep, as in 
dreams or vision, proceed on the principle that there 
are senses in the soul that are capable of being addressed 
by a peculiar class of phenomena suited to their nature. 
In support of the existence of this class of senses and 
of their perfect reliability to attest the presence of ob- 
jects, we have a twofold class of facts; viz., the scientific 
facts of our consciousness, which are the only data we 
have for the science of mind, either asleep or awake, 
and the authority of revelation. But more of this again. 
We have elsewhere shown that to think in sleep is 
to dream; but every dream is not a vision. The blind 
from birth see no objects in their dreams; they experi- 
ence only the sense of feeling, tasting, smelling, and 
hearing. The phenomena of these senses spring up with 
their thoughts and emotions of the soul, but this is not 
vision. There is no vision in the proper sense of the 
term, except where the sense of sight is addressed in 
connection with the other senses. In dreaming, the 
mind can reproduce only such phenomena as it has 
acquired through the different sense-organs of the body. 
Where, therefore, light and colors are unknown to the 
individual, they can not be presented to view by the soul 
in sleep; for the colors that appear to us in the dream 
state are thought-colors — spiritual resemblances of nat- 
ural colors; they are the phenomenal productions of 



Sleep anjj jdreaming. 173 

mind only. But phenomena of this kind can scarcely 
be conceived as being less subtle than the phenomena 
of light and colors in external nature, and they are quite 
as real to the soul, which is in fact alike percipient of 
both classes. But those who are deaf and blind from 
birth would not be likely to be chosen as a suitable 
medium in cases of inspired dreams. With this class of 
individuals there would evidently be a want of suitable 
qualifications or fitness of mind through which to trans- 
mit a revelation of this kind, on account of a want of 
proper training in the school of external nature. As in 
the case of the blind boy described by Dr. Cheseldine, 
who, after being suddenly restored to his sight by an 
operation for cataract, and who, being destitute of all 
knowledge of light and colors prior to the operation, 
thought, when restored to sight, that all visible objects 
came in contact with his eyes. Nor could he be induced 
to believe otherwise until this sense had received a course 
of training in connection with the other senses of the 
body. As the blind from birth, then, never see objects 
in dreams, nor the deaf from birth hear sounds of any 
kind, the supernatural order of visions must be of very 
rare occurrence with sueh individuals, if indeed it 
should ever occur. This class of persons would, on 
account of a deficiency of some one or more of their 
senses from birth, be, no doubt, disqualified as a suit- 
able medium for transmitting knowledge by means of 
inspired dreams or visions. 



CHAPTER II. 
MAN", A MICROCOSM. 

" On earth, there is nothing great but man ; 
In man, there is nothing great but mind." 

MAN has been, not inaptlj^, termed a microcosm, 
or little world, in contradistinction to the macro- 
cosm, or great world. The relation of man to the macro- 
cosm is not so strikingly exemphfied in the composition 
of his body as it is in the nature and powers of the 
mind. In regard to the composition of his body, man 
holds an intimate relation to the chemical elements of 
the world, while by means of sense-perception he holds 
a direct relation to the phenomena of the world. That 

which we perceive by means of onr organs of sense is 
only phenomena — the appearance of things; we can not 

perceive noumena, or essence. We suppose the existence 
of an underlying essence as a support to the phenomena, 
which alone are capable of affecting the sense-organs 
of the body and the mind. Thus limited to the percep- 
ti'on of phenomena, we are limited to the perception of 
appearances only, and not to the real things themselves. 
That which gives real substantiality to things is their 
underlying essence, which to us has only a supposable 
existence. We suppose the existence of an essence in 
order that we may account for the presence of the phe- 

174 



Man a Microcosm. 175 

nomena whicii alone are cognizable to sense. The mind 
through sense-perceptions takes off copies or, as it were, 
transcripts of the phenomena of the material world, 
which copies or transcripts, as they are sometimes called, 
are reproduced and represented to us as objects of sense 
by the operation of certain laws of the mind in the phe- 
nomena of dreaming. In our perceptions of the external 
world, then, we have presented only the phenomenal 
appearances — not the essence — of tilings; while in our 
perceptions of the dream-phenomenon we are confronted 
with the productions or mental copies — ^transcripts, rep- 
resenting the appearance of things, not the essence. 
One class of phenomena is known as the material, the 
other as the mental or psychical. The former class is 
prototypal, the latter ectypal — copies of the former. In 
the phenomena of dreaming the mind brings to our 
notice a class of mental powers, the existence of which 
are unobserved in the waking state. In the one class, 
the laws are physical; in the other, psychical. In the 
one, the phenomena are more or less stable and fixed; 
w'hile in the other, the phenomena are constantly chang- 
ing their appearance with the ever-changing thoughts 
that produce them. Through the senses of the body we 
perceive the physical; through the senses of the soul 
we perceive the psychical — copies of the physical. In 
the latter we behold the phenomena of things pictured 
in colors of mind. Psychical phenomena would gener- 
ally appear to us in the same order as the former, if the 
will were in exercise at these times, giving due order 



176 Origin of the Soul. 

and regulation to our thougkts. As we expect to show 
presently, the mind duplicates the ohjeets of external 
nature, not simply by representing them upon canvas 
alone, but by means of the more ready and instantane- 
ous laws of thought. 

Of all the operations of the human mind, there are 
perhaps none so mysterious or difficult of comprehen- 
sion as those pertaining to the phenomena of dreaming. 
While dreaming has always forced itself upon the at- 
tention of every man in all ages of the world, and while 
this state of the mind, which belongs to a distinct class 
of our mental operations, has been so universally recog- 
nized by the great mass of mankind, yet there is perhaps 
no class of our mental operations that has been so en- 
tirely neglected and so little understood. Indeed, such 
has been the general confusion and misconception at- 
tending the numerous attempts to explain thie class of 
our mental powers, that the whole subject has fallen into 
neglect, and even utter contempt. So great, indeed, 
has been the intricacy attending the investigation of this 
subject that psychologists have been baffled time and 
again in every attempt to unravel these mysterious phe- 
nomena. In all ages of the world men have been in- 
clined to look upon the operations of dreaming as 
having more or less prophetic bearing upon the life 
of the individual. 'Whatever is mysterious," says one, 
"as to its cause, and beyond the power of the will, as 
to our mental operations, often appears to us as be- 
longing to the supernatural; and what is more mysteri- 



Man a Microcosm. 177 

ous and beyond our control than dreams?" There are 
millions of the human family who seek to obtain a true 
knowledge of their future prosperity and fortunes 
through the interpretation of dreams. Were this class 
of numerous seekers to devote as much earnestness in 
their attempts to comprehend the nature and character 
of these operations, as they have to divine their fortunes 
by them, the subject of dreaming would not now be in- 
volved in such a cloud of mystery. 

When the brain and senses are awake, we are, by 
means of those organs of the body, brought into direct, 
percipient relation to a world of physical phenomena; 
but when the functions of this part of our nervous 
system are suspended by sleep, the physical world dis- 
appears from our view, and in its stead the mind fills 
up the apparently empty void, which is thus tempo- 
rarily produced, with a class of phenomena of its own 
production. That the latter class of phenomena depends 
upon our mental operations, such as ideas and thought, 
has been already shown by the fact that the blind from 
birth and the deaf from birth can not see objects nor 
hear sounds in their dreams. For like reasons the un- 
born infant, not having perceived the objects of the ex- 
ternal world, can not think — can not dream of the phe- 
nomena of the world. Were it otherwise, the unborn 
could dream of the works of art or of the cities of the 
world the same as the ordinary thinking man. But we 
can dream only of what we know. The unique appear- 
ance and utter confusion of things presented to us on 
12 



178 Origin of the Soul. 

such occasions are owing to the erratic procedure and 
confusion of thought, which then depends entirely upon 
the association of ideas unassisted by the co-ordinating 
influence of the will in giving direction to our trains of 
thought. This temporary suspension of the will power 
is no doubt a wise provision of nature; for could we 
reason at those times, we would be constantly mistak- 
ing or confounding the occurrences of the dream-life 
with those of the waking-life, so that after a short in- 
terval of time had elapsed we should, under such cir- 
cumstances, be unable to distinguish between the trans- 
actions of a dream and those of the waking state. For 
were both states alike rational and orderly, the two 
would so often coincide with each other that even the 
witness, when placed on the stand to testify to the truth 
of what he had seen and heard, would be constantly mis- 
taking and confounding the objects and occurrences 
of one state for those of another, which would cause our 
whole life to merge into a state of uncertainty, and even 
utter confusion. 

"When awake we are, by means of the bodily senses, 
placed in direct, percipient relation to the phenomena 
of matter — to our own physical body and the external 
physical world. This proposition will doubtless not be 
called in question by any one. On the other hand, 
when the brain and senses are asleep, all material things 
— as the material body and the material world — ^recede 
for the time being from our view, from our immediate, 
percipient presence. The latter proposition will not, 



Man a Microcosm. 179 

we think, be seriously called in qnestion by any one that 
reflects. For if you deprive us of the use of the bodily 
senses, it matters not in what way, you at once deprive 
us of all cognition of material things. What we fail 
to see, or hear, feel, taste, or smell, is for the time being 
the same to us as if all corporeal things had no existence 
whatever. The blind from birth, though immediately 
surrounded by a flood of light, with all its attendant 
colors, is no better off than if there were no such thing 
as light. To him it is the same as if no such thing as 
light and colors existed; and so of the deaf from birth, 
they are destitute of all knowledge of sound. The same 
may as truly be said of all the other senses of the body. 
Deprive us of the use of all the bodily senses from birth, 
and we should have no conscious perception whatevei 
of the presence of the material world. Suspend, there- 
fore, the exercise and use of these avenues of sense, as 
in sleep and dreaming, and all things material disappear 
for the time from our immediate, percipient presence. 
In this condition of things space would appear to us 
entirely empty, did not the mind fill up the apparent 
void with phenomena of its own Idnd and making. That 
the mind produces the phenomena here referred to, is 
abundantly shown in the case just cited of the blind 
from birth, with whom neither light nor colors appear 
in their dreams. Where there is no thought in relation 
to such phenomena, there can be no like phenomena pre- 
sented on the dream side of the mind, and so of the deaf 
from birth, where there is no idea of sound, no sound 



180 Origi:n' of the Sotjl. 

appears to them in the dream state; and when there are 
no thoughts in the mind, there can be no dream phe- 
nomenon presented. As just remarked, the unborn in- 
fant can not think — can not dream. Without walking 
perceptions there can be no thought, because there has 
been no perception of objective phenomena in the mind 
to form the basis of thought. 

That the dream objects differ from the physical 
objects, is evident from the fact that they are generally 
found to vary in form and complexity from one another; 
for did they always coincide exactly with each other, did 
the mental object coincide exactly with the physical, we 
should be led t'o regard them as identical; the two* classes 
of phenomena would not be distinguishable from one 
another. We are alternately conscious of the percep- 
tion of both; we are likewise alternately conscious of 
their points of resemblance; and so we are conscious 
of perceiving their points of difference in regard to their 
peculiar form and complex nature. We are conscious of 
the perceptit3n of both classes of phenomena then — ^the 
one, which is universally, and so by common consent, 
denominated the physical; the other we shall call the 
psychical, because of its numerous points of difference 
from the former, and because it is derived from, and 
may be traced directly to, certain fundamental powers 
of the conscious soul. We call these powers funda- 
mental, because dreaming depends upon the develop- 
ment of the mental operations, and is one of the com- 
mon and peculiar modes of the mind's exercise. When 



Man a Microcosm. 181 

the mind is employing the nervous system, we are per- 
cipient only of the physical; when the nervous system 
is asleep, and the exercise of the mind is carried on 
independently of the brain and sense-organs, we per- 
ceive only the psychical. These two classes of mental 
exercise take place alternately throughout the whole 
period of life^ — as when we wake, and when we sleep. 
When awake, we are percipient both of our material 
body and a material world surrounding us. When asleep, 
both poles of this physical relation — the body and the 
world — disappear from our percipient presence. So in 
dreaming we have like opposite poles of percipient rela- 
tion to the objects then presented to our view that we 
have to those of the waking state. But with this diSer- 
ence: in dreaming we perceive nothing material — ^neither 
subjective nor objective — both the material body and 
the material world having for the time being disap- 
peared from our cognitive presence; disappeared for 
the reason that they can be perceived only by means 
of the physical senses, which the soul is not then em- 
ploying. When we are making use of the sense-organs, 
as in the waking state of the b«ody, we are then conscious 
of perceiving our own personal, physical self, and at the 
same time conscious of perceiving material objects 
around us. So when the brain and body are asleep, we 
are equally conscious of perceiving our personal self as 
standing in like opposite relation to the class of objects 
which we then perceive. In both these instances we are 
forced to rely on the authority of self-consciousness for 



182 Origin of the Soul. 

all the facts presented in our perceptions — ^for our own 
personal form, and for the form of the objects that are 
presented to view. In both these cases we are com- 
pelled to rely upon the consciousness of our perceptions 
for everything that we observe. If we deny the author- 
ity of consciousness as a reliable criterion for what we 
observe in the one case — Self — we are compelled, by 
every known principle of logic, to reject its authority 
as a truthful witness in the other — ^the Not-Self. Sub- 
ject and object are therefore alike perceived by us. 
In dreaming, our perceptions present us with a similar 
parallel to that wliich occurs in the waking state of the 
body. We have the same fads of consciousness involved 
in our mental acts in the former state that occur in the 
latter. We are conscious of the perception of the Ego, 
and at the same time of the Non-Ego; we are conscious, 
as when awake, of Self and of the Non-Self. For the 
truth of both these cases we are compelled to rely on 
our consciousness, for the reason there is no other cri- 
terion upon which to depend, either awake or asleep. 

"He who applies," says Sir William Hamilton, "the 
argument of common sense, by appealing to the veracity 
of consciousness, should not himself, directly or indi- 
rectly, admit that consciousness is ever false; in other 
words, he is bound in applying this argument to apply 
it thoroughly, impartially, against himself no less than 
against others, and not according to the convenience 
of his polemic, to approbate and reprobate the testimony 
of our original beliefs. That our immediate conscious- 



Man a Microcosm. 183 

ness, if eompetent to prove anything, must be compe- 
tent to prove all it avouches, is a principle which none 
have been found, at least openly, to deny." * It is 
abundantly set forth in the writings of Sir William 
Hamilton, one of the most learned of the philosophers, 
that no philosopher has been so bold or so reckless as 
to reject the authority of consciousness in his psycho- 
logical or metaphysical researches. For should he once 
set aside this authority in regard to any of its deliver- 
ances in any department of mental science, it would 
be impossible for him to establish any fact whatever in 
reference to the existence of the physical world or any 
act of the mind tending to establish the existence of 
the soul. On the principles of such refusal to admit 
its authority to establish any fact in regard to either 
mind or matter, ever5rthing would, in accordance with 
the data and tenor of such logic, become absolutely null 
and void. 

With this authority of consciousness, then, fully and 
fairly impeached in regard to the fact of our mental 
operations, we should at once be plunged into complete 
and hopeless Nihilism in regard to everything, whether 
in the earth beneath or in the heavens above us. But 
on the other hand, with this authority 'Z/fiimpeached in 
regard to any and all its deliverances — and we can not 
accept these deliverances in part, and reject them in 
part — ^the percipient presence of the soul, as an object 
of our sight, is as fully accorded in the dream state as 

« Philosophy of Sir William Hamilton, p. 38. 



184 Origin- of the Soul. 

are the phenomena that surround us at the time; and 
to deny the existence of such phenomena would be to 
deny the fact of the existence of dreams altogether, 
whether natural or inspired. Either both poles of this 
relation — the soul and its objects — are true^ or both are 
false. If the objects are perceived by us^ the soul is; 
and, per contra, if the soul is not perceived, the oljiects 
are not. Choose which horn of the dilemma you will 
accept. The one course leads to a complete and uniyer- 
sal nihilism of all things, both in the realm of matter 
and of mind; the other, to a universal existence of all 
things that we cognize, both awake and asleep. The 
question of mental hallucinations, which has a close 
bearing upon this subject, has been heretofore consid- 
ered. 

When sleep locks up our bodily senses, we instantly, 
and without any knowledge on our part, glide from the 
immediate, percipient presence of the material body and 
the material world into the immediate, percipient pres- 
ence of the personal soul and the psychical phenomena 
that objectively appear around it. Where the sleep is 
undisturbed by any morbid bodily influence, we per- 
ceive nothing but the spiritual part of our being, Self, 
and its sun^ounding psychical thought-phenomena. In 
this condition the personal spiritual soul is then brought 
into direct percipient view and relation to itself and its 
own spiritual phenomena; in like manner, as when 
awake, the corporeal body with all its physical surround- 
ings is brought, by means of the use of our sense-organs, 



Man a Microcosm. 185 

into the direct cognition of the mind. In the one case, 
the mind uses the sense-organs of the hody; in the 
other, it does not; in both it perceives phenomena. In 
dreaming, then, our spiritual self and the spiritual not- 
self are brought into direct, percipient relation to one 
another. "As the bodily eyes close in sleep, the eyes 
of the spirit open." Our spiritual senses do not deceive 
us as to the fact of the presence and perception of the 
dream objects; but our judgment is at fault in regard to 
their true nature. We never at the time suspect that 
we are in the immediate, percipient presence of any 
other class of objects than the material. Our waking 
knowledge is only of material objects, and as the dream 
objects do not differ noticeably from the material in 
regard to the distinctness of their sense-impressions 
upon the sentient soul, we do not hesitate at the time 
to accept them as such; hence the error is one of judg- 
ment, and not one of sense-perception. Owing to the 
suspension of the action of the will, we can not stop 
or call a halt in order to reason upon the nature and 
character of the objects presented to view; nor can we 
at such times stop to investigate the nature and powers 
of the soul, as to whether it is the soul itself that we 
see, or the physical part of our being. This question can 
be settled only by the exercise of the mind in our reason- 
ing operations, which are brought into full exercise 
when awake. It is indeed a wise provision of our nature 
that the mind does not at these times engage in the 
laborious task of logical thought; for, were this the 



186 Origin of the Soul. 

case, the body, becoming disturbed by deliberative men- 
tal exercise, would fail to receive the requisite sleep 
necessary to replenish our bodily energies for carrying 
on the physical and mental exercises of the succeeding 
day. Notwithstanding we are unable to reason in 
dreams, we still possess the power of perception, which 
brings us into direct, percipient relation with our own 
spiritual, personal form, and the objective, spiritual 
scenery of its immediate surroundings. For did we not 
perceive our own personality, both awake and asleep, 
we should not be able in either case to describe our own 
relative position to the objects that surround us. 

In sleep and dreaming, the external senses are closed 
to the objects of the external world; and the soul, with 
its objective phenomena, glides insensibly into our con- 
scious, percipient presence, completely disguised. The 
disguise is made complete on account of our not being 
able to comprehend our new situation. We do not 
know at such times that the physical world has slipped 
away from our -sdew, and is replaced by a world of our 
own production. When the brain and senses are awake, 
we perceive the one; when these are asleep, we perceive 
the other. When awake, we are, through the organs of 
the bod}^, percipient of the physical; when asleep, we 
are percipient of the spiritual. Thus the soul is spirit- 
ual; the thoughts are spiritual; the phenomena that 
surround us are spiritual; the sensations we experience 
are spiritual; the perceptions are spiritual; the emo- 
tions we experience, and that so often disturb us at such 



Man a Microcosm. 187 

times, are spiritual, — all that pertains to that realm is 
in its very nature spiritual! It is the body that sleeps 
and the soul that dreams. It is the soul alone that feels 
sensations arising in response to the thoughts and the 
objects of the dream. It is the soul that experiences the 
emotions that spring up on account of the different as- 
pects of the objects, accordingly as they appear fright- 
ful or pleasing to us. Hence it is the sentient soul that 
feels, and sees, and hears, and appears to us in our 
dreams. At these times all our thoughts, sensations, 
and perceptions, with their attending phenomena, are 
constantly changing from moment to moment; but the 
soul itself remains the same permanent unity. 

Could we reason at such times^ — could we stop at 
any time in the dream, and in an abstractive manner 
take a survey of all the surrounding phenomena, while 
in this our new departure we should find the objects 
that appear to us- differing from material objects in the 
following particulars: First, we should, in the perfect 
sleep of the brain, find that the material body had re- 
ceded completely from view; second, we should find the 
objects that then appear quite unstable and transient in 
their nature, appearing and disappearing with the ever- 
changing thoughts; third, we should find that all our 
senses had been greatly intensified and in a state of 
hypersesthesia, on account of the sense-powers of the soul 
acting disconnectedly from the nerves of the body; and 
being thus stripped of their covering, we should then 
find them perfectly adapted to the more subtile objects 



188 Okigin of the Soul. 

that then surround us; fourth, we should find the 
psycho-spiritual objects assuming a simple or more com- 
plex appearance than the physical objects present, ac- 
cordingly as the thoughts of the mind were simple or 
complex in their nature. And lastly, we should find 
that the personal spiritual soul, and not the personal 
physical body, was acting in direct, percipient connec- 
tion with the objects presented to view in our nocturnal 
visions. 

In the waking state, the conscious or mental powers 
are placed by the bodily organs in percipient relation 
to physical phenomena; but when sleep disconnects the 
mental operations from the physical sense-adjuncts of 
the body, the conscious soul, temporarily losing its con- 
nection with physical phenomena, is then placed in 
percipient relation to that class of phenomena derived 
from the mind itself, which, as we have said, are of a 
psychical or spiritual nature. As these objects always 
correspond with the thoughts of the mind whenever our 
thoughts are of a disturbing character, the objects will 
be of a like disturbing nature, on account of which we 
are sometimes driven into the highest state of alarm. 
Do we at these times, then, see nothing, and are we terri- 
fied at nothing? An individual will sometimes become 
so alarmed at the sight of the objects of his dream, that 
he will commence struggling to free himself from the 
seeming danger that surrounds him; we say seeming 
danger, for he then believes himself surrounded by 
physical objects, and liable to all the dangers of the 



Man a Miceocosm. 189 

physical state. And even when he awakes, and "mon- 
arch reason" has resumed the throne of the intellect, 
he will sometimes be in such a terrified condition as to 
seek refuge under the bedclothes, fearing that the same 
hideous monster should continue to rush upon him, 
forgetting at the moment the change in the condition 
of his senses, and the different nature of the objects 
that are before him, forgetting also that it requires only 
a single moment of time to change entirely the scenery 
from one state to that of the other. The error that the 
mind labors under in the dream is owing to the fact 
of the threatening nature of the objects, and of his 
mistaking the objects of one class for those of the other. 
In all cases the mind, having the power to represent 
nature so strikingly, imposes upon itself, by mistaking 
its own phenomena for the phenomena of the material 
world. Thus we are constantly mistaking the psychical 
phenomena for the physical, because we are at these 
times unable to distinguish any real difference in regard 
to their identity; the sensations that spring up in con- 
nection with the psychical objects are not distinguish- 
ably different from those of the waking state. Every 
man falls into a similar error to this when awake, for he 
is then disposed to reject the fact of the real existence 
of the dream phenomenon; the same as in dreaming we 
are, when awake, unwilling to admit the fact of the 
existence of any other state or phenomenal world than 
the one in which we are then engaged. The same re- 
marks are applicable to the appearance of the soul as 



190 Origin of the Soul. 

an object of sight, for when we are awake it is difficult 
to believe that it ever appears present to ns as a direct 
object of sight during the period of sleep and dreaming. 
In the waking state we do not believe that there is any 
other bodily form than the physical, the one that we 
then see and are employing. The alternation of the 
phenomena of the two worlds — the physical and the 
psychical — depends upon the alternate use of the senses 
we employ, whether inner or outer, psychical or physical. 
That man possesses a dual nature — a spiritual soul 
and a physical body, both in the same personal form, 
and that it is the former that appears to us in our 
dreams — is evident from the fact that whatever mutila- 
tions the physical body may have undergone, such as the 
loss of one or more of our limbs by amputation — 
whether upper or lower — no such deficiency, no such 
mutilation, is found to exist in the form of the soul 
similar to that of the body. If we could see the physical 
body at these times, we should see it in all the defects 
or mutilations of the waking state. That it is the per- 
sonal soul — not the physical body — that we see, we 
have the testimony of two of our senses; viz., the sense 
of sight and the sense of feeling. The last-named is 
always the same on the side that is deprived of the 
limb as on the opposite side. The form of the soul is 
complete, and the sensibility is complete throughout 
its entire personality. Nor do we represent our per- 
sonal, psychical form at such times the same as we 
represent the persona] form of our friends or acquaint- 



Majt a Microcosm. 191 

ances; for while we may faithfully represent the form 
of others in reference to stature^ features, color of their 
eyes, the sound of their voice, etc.; we can not endow 
these forms with either sensibility or intellect. We 
can personate them in regard to form and character, 
hut we can not create them. Those persons who have 
suffered the loss of a limb, when they dream of seeing 
an acquaintance who has sustained the loss of a mem- 
ber of the body, will be most likely to represent their 
friend with the limb absent, while in their own case, 
the sensibility being continuous throughout, they al- 
ways appear complete in regard to sensibility and form 
in every part. 

While dreaming we are not, at the time being, de- 
pendent upon the action of our nervous system for the 
phenomena that are presented to view. This will ap- 
pear from the fact that those persons who are suffer- 
ing from total blindness occurring at adult age — after 
the mind had become familiar with the phenomena of 
light and colors — will dream of seeing objects the same 
as when the nerve of sight was perfect. Thus, when 
an individual has been deprived of the sense of sight 
from amaurosis or paralysis of the optic nerve, his vision 
at such times is perfect, although the nerve is incapaUe 
of performing the office of vision when awake, show- 
ing that the powers of the soul, while dreaming, are 
not impaired by the accidents of the body. Laboring 
ander this defect of the nerve of vision, when asleep, 
he sees; when awake, he is blind. The same may be 



192 Origin of the Soul. 

said of the totally deaf, haying sustained an injury of 
the organ of hearing after the mind has been stored 
with the knowledge of sound: when asleep, he hears; 
when awake, he is deaf. These circumstances alone 
show that the mind is not dependent upon the use of 
the nerves of sense while dreaming, and also show that 
it is the soul that dreams, while the brain and nerves 
of the body sleep. The nerves of the body never re- 
spond to the action of the mind in dreaming except 
where some of the voluntary nerves have been sufi&- 
ciently aroused from their somnolency to respond to 
the mental action; and when such sudden responses 
occur, they are generally only momentary, and very 
soon lapse into a state of sleep, while at the same time 
the dream phenomenon will commonly go on in its 
usual rapid manner. In dreaming, then, the spiritual 
soul is capable of performing the office of seeing, hear- 
ing, etc., without the aid of the corresponding organs 
of the body. This fact is further shown in cases where 
an individual is completely paralyzed in the muscular 
nerves of one side of the body, involving at the same 
time a total loss of the sensibility in the nerves of the 
same side. Such a person will experience no loss in 
regard to the sense of feeling on the corresponding side 
of the soul. Such individuals, when dreaming, are al- 
ways conscious of possessing the sense of feeling on 
both sides alike, the same as if no loss of power and 
sensibility had taken place in the physical body. The 
same remarks are applicable in the dreams of those who 



Man a Microcosm. 193 

have sustained a loss of power arising from the para- 
lyzed condition of one of the limbs that we found in 
cases of the amputation of a limb: there is no such de- 
ficiency observed in the soul as is found in the physical 
instrument with which it is at the time connected. 

In cases of amputation of the limbs — upper or 
lower, one or all — there is no such absence or loss ob- 
served in the soul of the dreamer who may have suf- 
fered such mutilation of the body. It matters not how 
long he may have undergone privation on account 
of the absence of a limb, or what may have been hia 
experience in regard to the use of crutches, as the ma- 
terial body recedes from view on account of the sleep 
of the brain and senses, the soul insensibly glides into 
his percipient presence unmutilated and perfect in re- 
gard to form, a,nd sensibility. Although the change 
from the outer to the inner state of things — ^from the 
waking to the dream life — ^takes place in a very short 
space of time; and although the individual may, in 
certain instances, carry along with him to the dream- 
side the remembrance of having had a limb amputated, 
nevertheless the form and perfect sensibility of the soul 
in all its parts outweigh the recollection of its having 
been otherwise; for he then has the evidence of two 
of his senses — sight and feeling — to the contrary; and 
we always rely on the immediate testimony of the 
senses, whether awake or dreaming. In these cases, 
the presence of the psychical limb and the accompany- 
ing sensations in the soul, which are then experienced, 
13 



194 Origin of the Soul. 

become a living contradiction to the remembrance that 
the limb had been removed; and this impression con- 
tinues until he awai:es to find one of the limbs of his 
body absent. As in the moment before awaking he 
believed that he had but one body, and that it was 
unmutilated in form, so in the moment that follows 
he believes that he has but one body, and that it is 
in a mutilated condition. He forgets that he is com- 
posed of matter and spirit, and that these appear, not 
at the same time, but alternately. In both these con- 
ditions his mind is conscious of its perceptions. In 
both states he relies on the testimony of his sense- 
perceptions. Hence the disappointment that such per- 
sons often experience in passing from the dream state 
(in which they find all their limbs present and active) 
to the waking state, in which they find themselves de- 
prived of the use of one or more of their physical mem- 
bers. In the one case, the individual is looking upon 
the spiritual side of his nature; in the other, he sees 
only the physical. In the one case, he never appears 
to require the use of crutches, in the other he is com- 
pelled to make use of them to aid in the performance 
of locomotion. We can not even dream of the ab- 
sence of a limb m reference to the soul, nor of the 
absence of vision or hearing, for the reason that in 
such cases the sensations we experience at the time 
are at variance with and therefore contradict the 
thoughts pertaining to such absence. In dreaming every- 
thing is controlled by our thoughts and sensations. 



Man a Microcosm. 195 

But a question will here present itself: How can 
the soul assume the attitude of sitting, standing, walk- 
ing, running, flying, etc., seeing that it must occupy 
the whole body in the performance of the vital func- 
tions of the different parts, and at the same time the 
body is asleep and occupying the recumbent position? 
The answer to this question is. The body alone sleeps; 
the soul dreams. The soul alone thinks, and the phe- 
nomena appear in direct conformity with its thoughts 
and sensations. When, therefore, we dream of sitting, 
the thoughts and their objects conform with this posi- 
tion. When we dream of standing, the thoughts and 
the objects coincide with the erect position; and so of 
the others. We do not quit the body, but the phe- 
n'omena accord with the thoughts, and with the emo- 
tional feelings, while the soul experiences subjective 
sensations corresponding with, the thoughts and the 
emotions which may be that of sitting, standing, run- 
ning, flying, etc. We are at these times in a spiritual 
realm, in which everything is, from moment to moment, 
dependent upon the operations of the conscious powers 
of the soul. We are occupying a realm where the 
physical objects that surround us are not cognized, and 
where the psychical phenomena are not conforming in 
their spatial arrangements with the physical body. 
We may, at the time, be dreaming of making a voyage 
to Europe, in which the soul furnishes all the requisite 
conditions and details of the trip — such as the ocean, 
the ship, its crew — representing and personating a va- 



196 Origin^ op the Soul. 

riety of passengers to accompany it; for at such times 
the mind seldom prefers a state of either silence or 
solitude to that of social intercourse. 

When we dream of walking, the mental movements 
proceed somewhat slowly; but when we dream of run- 
ning, the order of the panoramic display is quickened 
in direct proportion to the acceleration of our thoughts. 
At these times we always experience subjective sensa- 
tions arising in the soul — not in the nerves of the body 
— ^in direct response to the thoughts and the objectified 
phenomena that surround us. Thus we are conscious 
of the thoughts; we are conscious of perceiving the phe- 
nomena, and of feeling sensations of moving like those 
of the waking experience. If we dream of flying, our 
thoughts, conforming with the desires of the mind, pro- 
ject the phenomena at a suitable perspective beneath 
us, and in regular train of panoramic movement, while 
at the same time subjective sensations arise within us, 
corresponding with the thoughts and the underlying 
objectified scenery of the vision. But the question may 
be asked, Why should we ever make an attempt to fly 
in the dream state, seeing that we never experience 
any such power as this in the waking state? In the 
waking state the action of the mind is in connection 
with the brain and sense-organs. It is then infra-or- 
ganic, while in the dream state the action takes place 
independently of these organs and of the voluntary 
muscles; hence the psychical action is supra-organic. 
Do we, then, feel at these times a buoyancy and celerity 



Man a Microcosm. 197 

of motion above what is felt in the waking condition 
of the bodily organs? Whatever the mind attempts 
to accomplish in dreaming, if there is no diversion of 
the trains of thought from the prevailing purpose at 
the outset of the dream, it always carries the purpose 
into effect. The fleeting thoughts and fleeting train of 
underlying phenomena, with the accompanying sub- 
jective sensations, complete the phenomenal sensations, 
complete the phenomenal movements. The soul does 
not move amidst the phenomena, but the phenomena 
move beneath and around it with such regTilarity as 
to give the appearance of flying. We sometimes ex- 
perience deceptive appearances when awake, as when 
we are in a boat pushing out from shore, not feeling 
the motion of the hoat. We appear to be stationary, 
while the objects on shore appear to be moving from 
us. But when we dream of flying, this is reversed: we 
appear to be in motion, because we experience sensa- 
tions of moving and our perceptions of the moving pano- 
rama beneath us give the appearance of flight. Thus 
the soul seems to move majestically under the direction 
of its own powers. While the scenery of the vision 
moves, as it were, in panorama before us, the soul, in 
relation to the physical body and the world, is stationary. 
If we dream of handling objects, we always find the 
objects ready formed in the hand in obedience to the 
accompanying thoughts and tactile sensation. This 
takes place without any knowledge on our part that 
the objects thus furnished to our hand were the prod- 



198 Oeigin of the Soul. 

ucts of the thoughts of the mind. When awake, all 
our sensations are felt in the soul, and not in the nerves 
of the body. When asleep, the phenomena of the dream 
are referred to, and correspond with, the inner senses. 
Everything in this new departure of the soul is ac- 
cepted on the basis of its thought-phenomena and the 
accompanying sensations, which always tally with the 
thoughts and the objective phenomena. In this state 
our thoughts would, in general, proceed in regular, 
logical order were the faculty of the will in exercise 
the same as in the slower mental movements of the 
waking state of the brain and bodily organs. If the 
will acted at such times, we could accomplish, psy- 
chically, anything we chose to accomplish; for then 
all our thoughts would be controlled by the co-ordinat- 
ing and, as it were, punctuating power of the will. By 
this means the dream phenomenon, with which all men 
are familiar, is capable of introducing us into an inner 
spiritual life of the soul, in which thought, objective 
phenomena, and sensations all correspond exactly with 
one another. In this peculiar state of mental opera- 
tions we should, indeed, be capable of reaching the 
highest order of intellectual attainment, provided the 
will was released from the restraint that the sleeping 
brain and nerves seem capable of exerting upon it. 

Dreaming ushers us into a mental state in which 
everything — the soul, the thoughts, the sensations, the 
phenomena presented — are all purely spiritual. And 
whenever these operations appear to blend with the 



Man a Microcosm. 199 

physical, as they sometimes do, it is where certain 
nerves of the body are sufficiently wakeful to -permit 
some of the mental movements to enter the channels 
of the nervous system, so as to manifest themselves on 
some particular part of the organism, giving rise to 
bodily sensations and somnambulic muscular move- 
ments of the limbs, as well as movements of the vocal 
organs, giving utterance to the dream-thoughts. This 
sometimes takes place in frightful dreams, in which 
the affrighted soul, striving to extricate itself from 
seeming dangers, will continue to struggle for a con- 
siderable length of time before it finds relief by arous- 
ing the nerves of the different sense-organs to wakeful- 
ness. In this way the soul is enabled to extricate itself 
from the thralldom with which its thoughts and the 
attending sensations and phenomena appeared to be 
threatening it; for at such times we always believe that 
we are awake and acting in connection with the body 
and the physical world. But in some instances, where 
the sleep of the brain is quite profound, the conscious 
or mental powers will work up such a complication of 
frightful appearances in the vision that the affrighted 
soul will struggle for some time to free itself; and at 
last, by a sudden and violent effort, it will, through 
the agency of the nerve-current, sweep through some 
channel of the sleeping fibers of the brain and its de^ 
pendent nerves. Upon awaking from this condition, 
we sometimes see the physical frame tremble, and even 
shake violently, under the influence of the mental ex- 



200 Okigin of the Soul. 

citement, until great drops of perspiration will start 
from every pore of the body. We may in some in- 
stances sit by the side of the sleeper and witness the 
straggle as it goes on, until we see him leap from the 
couch to the floor of his sleeping-apartment. This sud- 
den surprise of the nerves, and the excitement of the 
body that immediately follows, would not have taken 
place had the brain been awake at the commencement 
of the dream excitement, thus showing conclusively 
that it is the body that sleeps and the soul that dreams. 
In some instances this mental excitement will reach to 
such a pitch as to border closely upon a frenzied con- 
dition of the mind; and in certain cases of great nerv- 
ous su'sceptibility, where the time is greatly prolonged 
without awaking the brain and nerveS to action, the 
effect may end in the interruption of the heart's move ► 
ments, thus entirely breaking up the connection of the 
soul with the body. This is brought about through 
the sudden suspension of the unconscious instinctive 
powers of the soul which preside over the vital forces 
of the body. Such a result is, however, generally pre- 
vented by the sudden and rapid effort of the soul to 
escape from its seeming danger, which commonly 
serves to awaken the brain and external senses, so as 
to restore the affrighted mind to a perception of the 
more orderly phenomena of the external world. When 
the barriers become removed by the awakening of the 
brain and senses, the frightful objects of the dream 
disappear, and we are soon quieted by the more peace- 



Man a Microcosm. 201 

ful and stable scenery of material nature. How often 
do we see persons, when slowly awaking from one class 
of scenery to the other — as from the scenery of the 
dream Avorld to the more quiet scenery of the waking 
world — commence talking or laughing, weeping or 
wailing, whooping or hallooing, as they merge from 
the thralldom of their dream, to enter upon the more 
quiet world of external sense, in which the former things 
that occasioned their previous excitement had com- 
pletely disappeared — disappeared wholly on account of 
tjhe waking state of the brain and senses bringing an- 
other class of objective scenery into view! The moment 
preceding the return of the bodily organs to wakeful- 
ness, the dreamer does not believe that there is any 
other world than the one then engaging his attention. 
A similar conclusion follows the moment after wak- 
ing: he is then disposed to believe that there is no 
other world known to him but the physical, which is 
then engrossing his whole attention. Both worlds im- 
press us alike with all the distinctness of a reality. The 
one world acts upon the senses of the soul through the 
intervening organs of the body; the other acts directly 
upon the senses of the soul, without the aid of these 
organs. The phenomena impressing our senses in the 
one case are material, in the other, spiritual, or, rather, 
psycho-spiritual — psycho-spiritual because the soul 
alone is concerned in their production. In the former 
case, the objects of sense are stable and more or less 
permanently fixed, enduring ^dth the passing cen- 



202 Oeigin of the Soul. 

turies; the other, unstable and unfixed, enduring only 
with the passing thoughts and moments as they fly. 
The one world relates mostly to the present, the other 
relates mostly to the future state of the soul. One class 
of the psychical powers relates directly to time; the 
rational exercise of the other, to eternity. Eternity is 
a never-ending rational vision of the soul. The dream 
world is, at the time being, a real existence to us — real 
as it regards thoughts; real in the sensations we then ex- 
perience; real in the perceptions of the phenomena be- 
fore us; real in the emotional feelings we experience; 
real in regard to the then present convictions of the 
mind. We lack only the co-ordinating influence of 
the will to make this state rational and one of a much 
higher order than that which directly pertains to the 
physical order of things. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SOUL A'N IMMATERIAL ENTITY NOT 

DEPENDENT UPON THE BRAIN 

IN DREAMING. 

ON the theory which we have advanced, that the 
soul occupies the whole body, and is present in 
all the parts, differentiating the vital functions of the 
several parts, it will be urged by many that it must, 
in order to perform these powers in relation to the 
body, possess the property of extension, and is, there- 
fore, material. In reply to this it may be said that 
space is universally, or, as it is sometimes said, infinitely 
extended; but pure space can not, for this reason, simply 
be regarded as material. ^^Shall we," says Dr. Good, 
'^take the quality of extension as the line of separation 
between what is material and what is immaterial? 
This, indeed, is the general and favorite distinction 
brought forward in the present day; but it is a dis- 
tinction founded on mere conjecture, and which will 
by no means stand the test of inquiry. Is space ex- 
tended? Every one admits it to be so. But is space 
material? Is it body of any kind? Descartes, indeed, 
contended that it is body, and a material body; for he 
denied a vacuum, and asserted space to be a part of 
matter itself; but it is probable that there is not a single 

203 



204 Origin of the Soul. 

espouser of this opinion in the present day. If, then, 
extension belongs equally to matter and to space, it 
can not be contemplated as the peculiar and exclusive 
property of the former; and if we allow it to immaterial 
space, there is no reason why we should not allow it 
to immaterial spirit. If extension appertains not to 
the mind or thinking principle, the latter can have 
no place of existence, it can exist nowhere; for ivhere, 
or place, is an idea that can not be separated from the 
idea of extension; and hence the metaphysical imma- 
terialists of modem times freely admit that the mind 
has no place of existence, that it does exist nowhere, 
while at the same time they are compelled to allow 
that the immaterial Creator or universal spirit exists 
everywhere, substantially as well as virtually." * 

We have shown elsewhere that the soul is the true 
artificer of the body. It constructs all the parts, and 
m'aintains the vital functions of the different parts. 
In this respect it stands in its relation to the body as 
a personal, causal entity, differing greatly in its powers 
from the material; for while it possesses the property 
of extension, it is destitute of that universal property 
of matter called attraction of gravitation. The human 
body weighs no less immediately after death than dur- 
ing life, when the personal occupant was present, 
vitalizing all its parts. In the vitalizing process it 
gives form to the body, but not weight. Like the im- 

*Good's "Book of Nature," Series ill, Lect. 1, on "Materialism 
and Immaterialism." 



The Soul Immaterial. 205 

ponderable agents — heat, light, electricity, and mag- 
netism — it possesses the property of imponderability, 
and is, therefore, intangible. Differing from matter in 
every respect, except in regard to the property of ex- 
tension, its powers are instinctive, sentient, percipient, 
intellectual, emotional, self-conscions. Being endowed 
throughout with a self-active spontaneity in reference 
to all its powers, and being imponderable and without 
weight, as well as destitute of the common law of 
impenetrability in relation to tilings material, it dwells 
in the body as a personal, causal force, without displac- 
ing any of the materials of which the latter is com- 
posed. Neither does the latter possess the power of 
displacing the former. As it appears to us in dreams, 
it is found to exist in the 'personal form of the Tjody, 
whether the latter is entire or mutilated by dismember- 
ment of some of its parts, differing in every other re- 
spect from matter, except that of the property of ex- 
tension. When the surgeon applies his knife in the 
dismemberment of the parts, the physical parts are 
divided on account of the mutual relation or law of 
impenetrability existing between the knife and the 
parts to be divided. But this law of interrelation does 
not exist between the ponderable materials composing 
the knife and the imponderable soul; hence there can 
be no division of the personal form of the psychical 
occupant of tihe body. It was shown, when speaking 
of the action of the soul in the construction of the 
physical organism, that there is no direct relation nor 



206 Okigin of the Soul. 

connection existing between the psychical and material 
substance, except in the case of the matter entering 
into the composition of the body; and here there can 
be no connection between the soul and the body except 
where there is an intervening polarized vital link con- 
necting the atoms of the living cells with the former. 
Hence there can be no connection whatever between 
the soul and the body when the latter is dead, nor be- 
tween the soul and the de^ad matter, of which the sur- 
geon's knife is composed. It has been shown that the 
psychical occupant is connected with each and every 
cell of the body. For this purpose the nutrient ma- 
terials of which the cell is composed and replenished 
must be first vitalized before it can enter the cell or be 
appropriated by the psychical artificer in the construc- 
tion of the tissues that compose the organism. To 
fulfill this purpose, the very blood circulating through 
the body is alive; and hence it is from this constant 
vital stream of living nutrient material that the capil- 
lary system of blood-vessels is supplied in the con- 
struction of the organism. When, therefore, the sur- 
geon applies his knife in the separation of a limb, the 
psycho-vital forces of the cells of the tissues coiiiposing 
the dismembered limb are broken up, so that the inti- 
mate relation and connection of the one to the other 
is completely destroyed. 

According to the generally-accepted teachings of the 
schools, it is maintained that all space is occupied by 
an imponderable ether, which permeates all matter, 



The Soul Immaterial. 207 

occupying its intermolecular spaces. They tell us that 
it is infinitely or universally extended, that it exists 
everywhere, and hence can not be displaced by material 
substance, nor mutilated nor dispelled from any part 
of space. Further we are told that it exists as truly 
in a vacuum as it does in any other part of space. This 
universally-extended ether can not, therefore, possess 
the law of impenetrability in relation to matter. It 
can not displace matter, nor can material substance dis- 
place it. Both occupy the same place at the same mo- 
ment of time. The only effect matter exerts upon the 
ethereal substance is to diminish the frequency of its 
pulsations or wave-movements as these are transmitted 
through the intervening molecules of material sub- 
stance. The same remarks are, in this respect, appli- 
cable to the imponderable personal soul. It occupies 
the whole body without displacing any part of the ma- 
terials of which it is composed. The law of impene- 
trability does not prevail between the soul and the body 
as between the soul and the brain. Like the imponder- 
able ether, which, at the same moment of time, occu- 
pies the same space as that occupied by material sub- 
stance, so it may be said of the imponderable, extended 
soul, which is in the form of the body, is not subject 
to like mutilations as those to which the body is liable. 
"Divisibility," says Sir William Hamilton, "is a pri- 
mary law of matter;" but it can not be thus asserted or 
claimed of immaterial spirit. 

That the soul is not limited to a single part or point 



208 Oeigi^t of the Soul. 

in the body, as has been sometimes asserted by philos- 
ophers both ancient and modern, is evident from the 
fact that it performs different powers and different 
offices in the various parts of the body, such as seeing 
in the eye, hearing in the ear, tasting in the tongue, 
smelling in the nasal cavities, feeling in the fingers'- 
ends, as well as general sensibility throughout the en- 
tire surface of the body. But we are not left wholly 
to speculation in reference to the form of the soul; 
for in dreaming, as heretofore shown, we have the 
testimony of self-consciousness in relation to its per- 
sonality and form. In this state we are furnished with 
abundant opportunity for studpng many of the psy- 
chical powers that are wholly unknown to us in the 
waking state of the body. During the sleep of the 
brain and senses, a class of phenomena are then pre- 
sented to our observation that would be entirely un- 
known to us were it not for the sleep of these organs. 
Our self-consciousness settles the fact that, while 
dreaming, the soul appears to us in its complete entirety, 
even though the body with which it is at the time 
connected is variously mutilated on account of the 
previous loss of its limbs. On the same principle that 
the fracture of the rock does not destroy the continuity 
of the all-pervading, imponderable ether that permeates 
it, so the mutilation of the parts of the body does not 
destroy the continuity of the imponderable soul that 
occupies it. The soul is everywhere present in the 
body. As a personal, causal energy, it builds the body, 



The Soul Immaterial. 209 

differentiating it into numerous parts, and carries on 
all the different functions of the parts. In the language 
of Emerson, the soul is wholly embodied, and the body 
is wholly ensouled. 

But an objection may here be urged, that in our 
dreams we do not see the soul in a state of nudity, and 
therefore the position we have taken, that the soul 
appears to us as an object of sight, falls to the ground; 
but the same objection would apply with equal force 
against the perception of the physical body in our 
states of wakefulness. In dre'ams, the soul appears to 
be clad in that particular style of costume with which 
we are most familiar in the waking state. Thus the 
common custom and habits of life may be seen crop- 
ping out with a remarkable degree of certainty on the 
dream side of the mind. So great, indeed, is the in- 
fluence of long-established custom upon us that on 
these occasions we become, in a great measure, largely 
subject to its control. This will appear from the fact 
that when we dream of being in a state of nudity we 
are quite sure to shrink from the presence of the 
society which we personate around us and with which 
we seem at the time to be mingling, to seek some place 
of retirement, where we may find relief from that con- 
fusion and mortification of mind that attend us at such 
times. Thus the soul not only thinks, but experiences, 
the attending emotions of its nature. It not only fur- 
nishes all the surrounding scenery of the vision, but 
likewise, by a feeling of long and inveterate custom, 
14 



210 Okigin of the Soul. 

it is sure to attire itself in that familiar style of dress 
which custom and long training of modesty has im- 
pressed upon each individual. True to this law, the 
different sexes will, on account of long-accuistomedi 
hahits of life and training, appear attired in such cos- 
tume as is appropriate to each. And for like reasons 
those nations that are accustomed to the condition of 
partial nudity will appear in accordance with their own 
particular habits of life and thought. Taking this view, 
there is no doubt but the Bushmen and the Feejeeans 
will, in their dreams, appear to be clad in very different 
costume from that which pertains to civilized life. 
Thus the common conventionalisms of life are gener- 
ally found to appear on the- dream side of the mind. 
Everything that appears to our view in dreaming, 
except the soul itself, is the direct product of thought. 
The hands furnish raiment and protection to the body; 
the thoughts furnish the raiment to the soul. Thus 
we read in the Apocalyptic vision of a vast multitude 
of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, clothed 
in white raiment — fit emblem of highest purity of 
thought. But of this again, when we come to consider 
dreams and visions as related in the pages of sacred 
authority. 

The prevalence of this law may be accepted as a 
constant attendant, not only through the different 
nationalities to the most civilized races of men, but 
down through the lower tribes of animated nature. 
Did not the forms and mental peculiarities of the lower 



The Soul Immaterial. 311 

races of animals attend them in their dreams, the dog 
would, no doubt, appear merged into the same form, 
color, and character as that pertaining to the animal 
or object of his chase; and for like reasons the feath- 
ered tribes would appear in the same form, covering, 
and color as the quadruped, and vice versa. But on 
the contrary, in dreaming, each and every animal re- 
tains its own individuality, form^ color, and other char- 
acteristics as those which pertain to its waking state. 
There can be but little doubt that, during sleep, ser- 
pents dream of crawling; birds, of flying; and quadru- 
peds, of walking and running, the same as they are 
accustomed to do in the waking state of their brain 
and bodily organs. 

Wherever the powers of perception exist, there 
mind exists. 

" What sees is mind, what hears is mind ; 
Nothing sees or hears but mind." 

All animated nature is, to a certain degree, per- 
cipient; for almost all animals see and hear. Wherever, 
therefore, the power of perception exists, and the power 
of reproducing those perceptions independently of the 
exercise of the brain and external organs of sense, 
as in sleep and dreaming, there mind exists. Viewed in 
this light, then, dreaming is not solely limited to the 
higher orders of animated nature, but extends all the 
way down the animal scale wherever sense-perception 
or limited thought presents itself to human observation. 



212 Obigin of the Soul. 

Dr. McNish, in his "Philosophy of Sleep," says: 
"Man is not the only animal subject to dreaming. We 
have every reason to believe that many of the lower 
animals do the same. Horses neigh and rear^ and dogs 
growl in their sleep. Probably at such times the re- 
membrance of the chase or the combat was passing 
through the minds of these creatures, and they also 
not unfreqnently manifest signs of fear, joy, playfulness, 
and almost every other passion. Puminating animals, 
such as the sheep and cow, dream less; but even they 
are sometimes so affected, especially at the period of 
raising their young. The parrot is said to dream; 
and I should suppose some other birds do the same. 
Indeed, the more intellectual the animal is, the more 
likely it is to be subject to dreaming. Whether fishes 
dream it is impossible to conjecture; nor can it be 
guessed with anything like certainty at what point in 
the scale of animal intellect the capacity of dreaming 
ceases, although it is very certain there is such a point, 
I apprehend that dreaming is a much more general 
law than is commonly supposed, and that many ani- 
mals dream that are never suspected of doing so." 

"There can be no doubt," says Dr. Good,* '^that 
other animal-e have their dreams as well as man, and 
that they have them as vigorous and as lively. Every- 
one has beheld his favorite dog, while asleep by the 
fireside in the winter season, violently stretching out 



♦Good's "Book of Nature," Lect. on "Sleep and Dreaming." 



The Soul Immaterial. 213 

his limbs, howling aloud, and at times starting abruptly, 
beneath the train of images of which his dream is 
composed." In cases of this kind we have exhibited 
somnambulic movements of the muscles of the limbs, 
tongue, and glottis. The muscular nerves — not the 
nerves of sense — were, no doubt, in the case above men- 
tioned, so far kept in a state of wakefulness through 
the influence of the warmth of the fire as to be able 
to respond to the dream operation, and thus, to some 
extent, reveal the character of the ideal images pass- 
ing through the mind of the animal. 

From the foregoing remarks and citations we are 
led to conclude that dreaming is a universal law of 
mind, extending throughout the entire animal king- 
dom, from the lowest orders up to man, and from man 
on upwards into the highest state of enraptured vision. 
But the relation which nocturnal visions bear to in- 
spired visions, such as we find related by writers of 
Sacred authority, will be considered further on. Na- 
ture has her spiritual side exhibited to us in the mind, 
as well as a material side connected with the body. 
The phenomena of material nature find a suitable lodg- 
ment in the human mind in which, by an irresistible 
law of our nature, the perceptions of external phe- 
nomena are, by means of the laws of thought, trans- 
formed into resembling phenomena of spirit; so that, 
if the thoughts were properly co-ordinated into rational 
procedure, man would be furnished with everything 
requisite for reproducing a phenomenal world of the soul 



314 Origin of the Soul. 

in a future state of existence, after the brain and phys- 
ical senses are destroyed. But of this again. 

There is, however, a class of physiologists and 
pathologists who are unwilling to admit that the mind 
possesses the power of action independently of the 
brain during the states of sleep and dreaming that de- 
serve a passing notice here. They assert that when 
ideas arise in the mind of the dreamer, the ideas de- 
scend from the periphery of the brain, and thence fol- 
low the nerve-fibers till they reach the nerve-centers 
of this organ (which centers are supposed to be, at such 
times, in a state of more or less constant wakefulness), 
and there, in those nerve-centers, give rise to dream- 
images. This is substantially the thought advocated 
by Dr. Maudsley in his "Pathology of Mind" (chapter 
on Sleep and Dreaming). Now, these so-called nerve- 
centers are nothing more nor less than small ganglia 
or knots existing in the nerve-cord, and serve to mark 
the commencement of the different nerves as they 
emerge from the brain, to be distributed to the organs 
of sense. It has been heretofore shown that all that 
part of our nervous system connected mth the mental 
operations must, during sleep, discontinue its action 
with the mind in order to afford an opportunity for 
this part of the nervous system to obtain its necessary 
repose. The brain and senses can not sleep while the 
mind is employing them as an instrumentality, for the 
reason that such relation and exercise would constitute 
the waking condition. Hence the nerve-centers, being 



The Soul Immaterial. 216 

connected with the mental operations during the state 
of wakefulness, require sleep the same as the brain 
and nerves proceeding from it. We claim that one 
part or section of a nerve-trunk can not be awake and 
performing its requisite function while the fibers above 
and below that point are asleep. Did not the nerve- 
centers sleep along with the brain and nerves of which 
they form a part, we should in a very short time have 
a state of enervation and morbid conditions resulting 
in unmistakable disease of the brain and mind; but to 
obviate this result j^ature has provided for the peri- 
odic sleep of the whole of that part of the nervous 
system connected with the mental operations. The 
wakefulness of this part of the nervous system at such 
times has not been proven, but is simply supposed to 
exist, in order to account for the operation of dream- 
ing upon a physical basis, holding that this phenome- 
non can not take place without some sort of nerve- 
action. It is well known that the brain and nerves of 
special sense are asleep at these times; hence it is 
claimed that the ganglionic centers are the parts of 
the nerve-substance that remain awake during sleep 
and dreaming. But this is a mere gratuitous assump- 
tion, gotten up by Dr. Maudsley and other materialistic 
physiologists for no other purpose than to connect this 
strange class of our mental operations with some part 
of the nervous system. Hence, to suit the convenience 
of these theorists, it is claimed by them that a small 
portion (say about one inch in length) of the nerve- 



216 Origin of the Soul. 

cord remains in a state of complete wakefulness to 
fulfill this purpose; and yet this part of the nervous 
system is well known to be as much concerned in the 
mental operations during the whole of the waking 
state as the brain and the special nerves of sense^, of 
which these are but a fractional part, and hence must 
possess the same requirements for sleep as the brain 
or any of its dependencies. 

Unless these centers are permitted, by a suspension 
of their functions, to sleep along with the brain and 
its other nerve-dependencies, we should soon have a 
state of morbid wakefulness resulting in uncontrollable 
delirium, and even violent mania. But as these nerve- 
fibers all have their commencement in the brain, and 
proceed without interruption throughout the whole 
length of the nerve-cord to their final termination in 
the organ of the body to which the nerve stands related 
in function, it is a gratuitous assumption to assert that 
during sleep the small part above referred to remains 
awake so as to connect the operations of the mind in 
dreaming with the nervous system, while the same 
nerve-fibers ahove and helow this point continue in a 
state of profound sleep. The case may be stated thus: 
In order to account for the formation of dream-images, 
it is held by Dr. Maudsley and others entertaining like 
views, that "while the brain is asleep, an idea which 
arises in the mind in a dream (of course, without the 
aid or assistance of the sleeping brain), being unable 
to follow the accustomed paths of reflection, acts down- 



The Soul Immaterial. 217 

wards upon the sensory ganglion, and takes shape as 
a distinct image or actual perception, so that a dream- 
train of ideas is a train of images.'^ * Thus the 
images are displayed to our observation in the form of 
dream images at the ganglionic centers, where they 
are supposed to appear to us as external objects of 
sense, somewhat after the nature of those images which, 
proceeding in an opposite direction from the objects 
of the world, impress themselves on the mind through 
the external organ of sense. To illustrate this point 
still further, let us take one of the nerves of special 
sense — the optic nerve, for instance, which is com- 
monly the first to fall asleep in connection with the 
brain. Now, every physiologist knows that both the 
brain and the optic nerves fall asleep, and that the 
natural function of the parts which pertain to their 
waking condition is thus suspended; and yet the mind 
is capable of performing acts of thinking, seeing, hear- 
ing, feeling, etc., the same as before, but without the 
aid of either physical objects or the corresponding 
organs of the nervous system. It is alleged by the 
materialistic theorists that an idea forming in the mind 
descends downwards upon the sleeping fibers of the 
brain the same as when this organ is awake, and, finding 
a waking spot in the ganglionic centers of the optic 
nerves (corpora quadrigemina), the idea is then and 
there displayed to our view as dream images which 



*See Dr. Maudsley's " Pathology of Mind," chap, on " Sleep and 
Dreaming," p. 13, 



?18 Origin of the Soul. 

resemble in appearance the objects of external nature. 
But what is most fatal to this theory is, the totally 
blind from amaurosis or paralysis of the optic nerves, 
sees the dream objects in his sleep the same as when 
these nerves were in their normal condition and func- 
tion, thus showing that the optic nerves are not con- 
tributing anything to the operation of dreaming any 
more than they can contribute to the function of vision 
in the waking state. When the individual laboring 
under amaurosis is awake, he is totally blind; when the 
brain is asleep, he sees. But he can not see the mental 
images except wlien Ms 'brain and optic nerves are asleep. 
In order to explain the phenomena of dreaming by the 
action of the optic centers in the above instance, these 
theorists would be compelled to assume the position 
that, in amaurosis, while the whole nerve-cord is in a 
paralyzed condition, the optic centers alone must be in 
a state of complete functional activity, which position 
would be wholly untenable. The same may be said, 
mutatis mutandis, in regard to the auditory nerves, when 
these nerves have been paralyzed, at adult age; the in- 
dividual dreams of hearing sound the same as before 
the paralysis occurred. Hence, according to Dr. Mauds- 
ley, these nerve-centers must retain their constant ac- 
tivity after the nerves have been paralyzed, the same as 
before this occurrence took place; so that, on this 
hypothesis, neither sleep nor paralysis can in the least 
affect the normal activity of the brain-centers. So in 
regard to hemiplegia, we dream of walking and run- 



The Soul Immaterial. 219 

ning the same as before these nerves had lost their func- 
tional power. But, according to Dr. Maudsley^ an idea 
of walking and running had descended upon these para- 
lyzed centers; hence the dream. Sentient, indeed, 
would have to be these paralyzed nerve-centers to feel 
the ideas descending upon them in their fairy tread. 
The paralyzed nerve may interfere with the exercise 
of the soul in the waking state, but it can not so inter- 
fere or abridge its action in the other — the dream state. 
"What we see and hear when we dream is wholly differ- 
ent from what we see and hear when the external sense- 
organs are awake and receiving impressions from objects 
without. The former phenomena, are spiritual in their 
nature, because they have no other origin than the 
mind that produces them; while the latter class of phe- 
nomena belong to the material, and hence are not, as 
a class, dependent upon the mind for their existence. 
As every dream has more or less relation to several 
of the 'Senses — to sum up the views of the above theo- 
rists, if the ideas formed in the mind of the dreamer 
should relate to bodily movements — ^say that of walk- 
ing or running — ^it is claimed by those theorists that the 
ideas descending upon the muscular center of the brain 
(corpora striata) result in dreaming of walking or run- 
ning, as the case may be, agreeing, in this respect, with 
the idea formed in the mind of the individual; and so 
it is claimed where the attention is directed to eating 
or drinking the ideas thus formed, descending upon 
the nerve-centers of taste, we dream of these indul- 



220 Okigin of the Soul. 

gences; and so in regard to the sense of smell, it is 
claimed that we dream of perceiving odors. For like 
reasons it is held that if the mind should entertain ideas 
relating to the sense of touch, we forthwith dream of 
handling objects on account of these ideas descending 
to the nerve-center that relates to tactile sensibility. In 
this manner some physiologists and philosophers would 
undertake to explain all the phenomena of dreaming by 
the mind acting upon the brain centers. 

The above theory is an entirely gratuitous assump- 
tion gotten up for the purpose of trying to connect the 
dream operations with some part of the nervous system, 
as in the waking state of the brain and its nerve centers. 

ISTow, as Dr. Maudsley — one of the champions of 
this theory, and a stanch materialist — has, in order to 
be consistent with his own views, attempted to connect 
(as we think without good reason) the operation of 
dreaming with the nerve centers, we shall, for the pres- 
ent, leave him anxiously clinging to his little ledge of 
brain, and pass on to the consideration of another 
branch of this subject closely connected with the phe- 
nomena of dreaming; viz., somnambulism. 

There is a mixed state of sleep and wakefulness 
arising from a morbid disturbance of some parts of the 
brain and nervous system, known as somnambulism, or 
sleep-walking, in which the individual acts out his 
dream. The somnambulist dreams and acts out his 
dream, because at such times that track of nerves which 
runs to the muscles remains awake — ^not simply at the 



The Soul Immaterial. ^21 

ganglionic center, but throughout the entire course of 
the nerves of volition — ^from brain to muscle, resulting 
in bodily movements. While in ordinary dreaming the 
same nerve track, together with all that part of the nerv- 
ous system connected with the operations of the mind, 
is asleep. In this state we may have all the mental oper- 
ations going on, except the action of the will, without 
any bodily movements. But in somnambulism certain 
parts of the brain are asleep, while some other parts 
of this organ, with its dependent nerves, are — on account 
of some morhid in-itation of the part — in a state of 
wakefulness. Dreaming generally takes place in the 
normal condition of the nervous system during sleep, 
while somnambulism is always, or to a certain extent 
at least, abnormal in regard to the parts of the nervous 
system that remain awake. 

In somnambulism the condition of the mind is dif- 
ferent from the ordinary state of sleep and dreaming; 
for in somnambulism the will is acting and, to a cer- 
tain extent, co-ordinating the thoughts of the mind; 
hence the mental operations are slower than in ordinary 
dreaming. The nerves of volition being awake at such 
times, the will not only co-ordinates the thoughts, but 
sets the voluntary muscles into active operation. To 
illustrate this point more fully, where some parts of the 
brain are asleep, while certain other parts of the nerve 
fibers extending from the center of the brain to the 
muscles remain awake, we have what is known as sleep- 
walking. In this state of things we have a mixed con- 



222 Origin of the Soul. 

dition of sleeping and waking. Some parts of the nerv- 
ous system are awake, while other parts are asleep. Now, 
if the optic nerves are asleep, the individual sees no 
objects except those of his dream; but if, on the con- 
trary, the fibers of the optic nerves should be awake, his 
movements will then be guided by the impressions of 
external objects acting upon the nerve of the eye. In 
this condition the sleep-walker will, on returning 
through the rooms of the building in which he has been 
rambling, remove chairs or other obstacles that may 
have been purposely placed in his way by those watch- 
ing his movements. But where the optic nerve is 
asleep, he will, instead of removing obstacles thus 
placed in his way, run against them; for he then sees 
no objects except those formed by the mind in his 
dream. If the auditory nerves should be asleep, the 
somnambulist will not in that case hear or heed con- 
versation going on among the bystanders; he hears and 
heeds only such conversation as he witnesses in his 
dream. To gain his attention in this condition, it will 
often require loud calls spoken directly in the ear, and 
when thus disturbed he will sometimes become more or 
less agitated on account of the words spoken having no 
conformity with the transaction nor with the mental 
operations then taking place in his dream ; for then the 
occurrences of the dream seem to engross his entire at- 
tention. A\Tiere the sense of touch and bodily feeling 
are in a state of profound sleep, and the attention riv- 
eted upon the objects of his dream, it will then gener- 



The Soul Immateeial. 223 

ally become necessary to take hold of the individual 
and shake the body, in order to arouse him to complete 
wakefulness. In fact, the somnambulist is dreaming, 
and at the same time, through the operations of his will 
upon the muscular nerves, is acting out his dream, 
modified in this respect by the particular nerve that 
remains in a state of sleep or wakefulness. The som- 
nambulist may then have some of his external senses 
awake and acting in connection with the -objects of the 
external world, while others are asleep, thus permitting 
the inner senses to act with the mind in direct connec- 
tion with the objects presented in his dream-thoughts. 
This state of things is very different from that in which 
the whole brain and its nerves are asleep ; for then the 
whole body sleeps. While only the conscious powers 
of the soul dream. In those instances in which the 
nerves distributed to the vocal organs are in a state 
of wakefulness, and the dreamer is engaged in conversa- 
tion with the ideal personages of his own creation, the 
mental operations will frequently manifest themselves 
through those nerves, by giving action and distinct 
utterance to the vocal organs, thus giving us a clew, it 
may be, to his train of ideas. The action of the organs 
here referred to are generally momentary and fitful, 
giving rise to a few utterances, after which these nerves 
may immediately lapse into sleep, while in the dream 
the conversation may continue to be carried on without 
any further manifestation to the bystanders, showing 
conclusively that the nerve action is not essential to the 



224 Okigin of the Soul. 

dream action; but, as it were, "iinintentional and acci- 
dental — accidental because these nerves were sufficiently 
awake to catch and momentarily catenate with the 
dream action. 

Somnambulism has contributed, perhaps, more than 
anything else to the notion that dreaming is somehow 
connected with the nervous system; but it must not be 
forgotten that while sleep and dreaming are perfectly 
natural and normal, that of somnambulism is always 
abnormal, and hence unnatural. There could be no 
action of the body in somnambulism if some one or 
more of the nerves of the body did not remain in a 
state of wakefulness from the center of the brain to 
the organ of the body to which the nerve stood related 
in function. While some of the nerves of the body drop 
into a state of sleep, others, on account of some morbid 
irritation, are kept awake, so that the mental action of 
the dream, finding a suitable channel of wakefulness, 
may begin to manifest itself on some part of the body. 
The part of the nervous system most subject to this 
wakefulness is that of the nerves running to the mus- 
cles, and this wakefulness is very apt to take place im- 
mediately upon going to sleep, before the muscular 
nerves drop into a state of sleep; for the somnambulist 
is most apt to arise and commence walking soon after 
the first encroachment of sleep. But in ordinary dream- 
ing the whole brain and its dependent nerves are asleep. 
Hence the dream action of the mind can not manifest 
itself openly to the bystanders, on account of the sleep 



The Soul Immaterial. 225 

of the nervous system not leaving any channel open for 
mental manifestation. In normal sleep the whole of 
the nervous system is completely locked up in sleep^ so 
that the mental action, having no connection with the 
brain, far outstrips in rapidity of its movement any- 
thing of the kind in the waking state of this organ. 
But in somnamhuhsm, some part of the brain being 
awake, the mental action is partially restrained by the 
influence of the brain upon the mind, so that the will 
regulates in part the mental movement; hence the men- 
tal action of somnambulism is much slower than it is 
in the ordinary dream state, in which the mind is not 
acting in connection with the brain. 

If the soul is naturally immortal, it must be on ac- 
count of certain capabilities or powers of acting inde- 
pendently of the brain and its nerves, for without such 
capability it could not act when the brain is destroyed. 
If the soul is immortal, it can act without the brain; 
and per contra, if it can not act without this organ, it is 
not immortal for the lack of such capability. But if it 
can thus act, it evidently possesses the power of think- 
ing and acting when the brain and its nerves are de- 
stroyed. 

The soul is that active, personal, causal principle 
in man w'hich, as we have elsewhere shown, is formed 
at the fecundation of the ovum, builds the body, keeps 
it in repair, occupies it as a tenement, uses it as an in- 
strumentality in the execution of the various acts of 
intelligence, and dreaming shows its entire capability 
15 



226 Origin of the Soul. 

of acting independently of the brain and sense-organs 
of the body, when these organs are asleep. If the soul 
is capable of seoing and hearing when the optic and 
auditory nerves are asleep — ^if it sees without the phys- 
ical eye, and hears w'ithout the physical organ of hear- 
ing — ^it can think without the brain, and consequently 
can seo, hear, feel, think, and act when the brain and 
its nerves are destroyed. Furnished and fully equipped 
by such an independent class of powers as here de- 
scribed, the soul is evidently destined to undergo a 
higher, rational, and more complete unfoldment in an 
endless course of ecstatic vision. But of this again, 
when we come to consider the subject of inspired dreams 
or visions. 

There is perhaps no subject with which we are so 
intimately connected that has been, at the same time, 
so completely neglected as that class oL mental oper- 
ations known as dreaming. And yet this subject has 
been by the Author of our being urgently pressed upon 
every man's attention times almost without number, 
while at the same time there is no subject that has been 
so often and so persistently pushed aside as if entirely 
unworthy of our attention and study as these mental 
operations. Time and time again we have been sud- 
denly startled to the highest degree of emotional excite- 
ment, as if to direct our attention to the study of these 
powers; but all seemingly without effect. Where is the 
individual who has not been pressed in his dreams, even 
to the seeming peril of his life; who has not been pur- 



The Soul Immaterial. 227 

sued, as it were, by robbers and by vicious animals; or, 
it may be, precipitated down some ledge of rocks into 
caverns of darkness, or into the rolling billows of some 
fathomless sea? How often have we been excited to the 
highest degree; and awakened times almost without 
number from our seeming perilous condition, to find the 
whole physical frame trembling on account of the influ- 
ence of this peculiar form of mental excitement until 
great drops of perspiration have started from every pore 
of the body. But all this has been of little or no effect 
as it regards the directing of the attention of the mind 
to a proper investigation of this strange phenomenon. 
Perhaps the only effect upon us would be, after becom- 
ing somewhat quieted down from our mental excite- 
ment, to bring about a change in the position of the 
body before dismissing the whole subject as being one 
entirely unworthy of our attention. ISTotwithstanding 
all this, such are the nature and powers of the mind 
that, whether we will it or not, whether we heed it or 
not, we still continue to dream, because it is one of the 
legitimate and unavoidable exercises of the mind; for 
dream we must! We expect to show in another place 
that the laws of dreaming would be as regular and as 
definite in their operations as are those of the waking 
state, provided the will were acting at those times. We 
also expect to show how it is that the phenomena of a 
dream are made to produce their impressions upon the 
senses of the soul in regular response to the thoughts 
of the mind. But this branch of the subject can be 



228 Origin of the Soul. 

better understood by studying it in connection with 
the sense perceptions of the waking condition of the 
bodily organs. It must not be forgotten that it is the 
soul alone that is sentient, and perceives the phenomena 
of the external world; and that these must, in order to 
be perceived by us, act directly upon the sentient occu- 
pant of the body through the different sense-adjuncts. 
But a question will here present itself. If the laws 
of dreaming proceed uniformly from caus^ to effect, the 
same as in the waking state, why do not all dreams 
appear to be of equal distinctness at one time, the same 
as at another? The cause of this difference depends 
mainly upon the fact that the objects presented in sleep 
do not always impress us with equal distinctness. For 
example: If we should dream of seeing a huge serpent 
lying coiled up in our pathway with its head elevated, 
apparently ready to spring upon us — the thought, ac- 
companied with the appearance of such a monster, in- 
stantly produces in us an emotion of great fear, thus 
holding the attention of the mind until the vision is so 
completely impressed upon the memory that it is seldom 
forgotten upon our return to wakefulness. But where 
the thoughts and their corresponding objects are un- 
attended by any disturbance of the emotional feelings, 
the result is otherwise. In the absence of emotional 
excitement and volitions, the thoughts very often pro- 
ceed with such rapidity as not to engage distinctly the 
attention of the mind — neither by thought, emotion, 
nor objective scenery — and thus, failing to leave any 



The Soul Immaterial. 229 

distinct impression upon the memory, no part of the 
dream can be related upon our returning to a state of 
wakefulness. Professor Wheatstone,* in his observa- 
tions upon the rapidity of light, has shown by actual 
calculation that the time required for a mental percep- 
tion to arise in the mind may not exceed the one- 
millionth part of a second. He has shown that when 
a locomotive and train of cars are dashing by us in the 
dark at a speed of forty or fifty miles an hour, if brought 
to view by a sudden flash of lightning, the drive-wheels 
will appear under this rapid rate of motion to be per- 
fectly stationary. So instantaneous, indeed, is the flash 
of light and the mental perception accompanying it, 
that the arms of the driving-wheel will not have time 
to make any appreciable change, even though the wheel 
is performing several revolutions in a second. It is not 
surprising, then, that under such a rapid procedure of 
our thoughts and their attendant perceptions of ob- 
jects, as must sometimes take place in emotionless 
dreaming, a large part of our dreams fail to make any 
distinct impression upon us, or be remembered on re- 
turning to the waking state. It is quite different, how- 
ever, where the thoughts proceed more slowly — and 
their corresponding objective scenery is riveted upon 
our attention — as they do at certain times, and as they 
always would do, provided they were properly restrained 
by the controlling influence of the will. In dreams we 



*See Professor Dolbear's work on the Telephone, p. 58. 



230 Origin of the Soul. 

are governed by the thoughts and the simultaneous per- 
ceptions of accompan3dng objects; these mental oper^ 
ations are often too rapid for voluntary action to take 
place, so that any attempt on our part to carry on a 
voluntary exercise of the mind would generally fail to 
be carried into effect. And as every thought, of what- 
ever nature, is instantly attended with corresponding 
objects of like nature, and as these again are attended 
with instantaneous perceptions of the objects presented, 
the attention of the mind becomes diverted from the 
original purpose, so that we are constantly drifting 
along with the ever-passing objective scenery. Not- 
withstanding these facts, we sometimes experience tran- 
sient glimpses of reasoning in our dreams. Generally 
speaking, however, the thoughts and the accompany- 
ing perceptions proceed with greater rapidity than the 
memory can retain them; hence we often fail to re- 
member our dreams. 

In dreaming, we always believe that we are awake 
and using the body. Could we be made to believe at 
such times that what we see occurring in our presence 
was not of a material nature, but that everything de- 
pended upon us for their existence, we should, in that 
case, be induced to stop at every turn that the scenery 
of the vision might take, and investigate the character 
of the objects presented. But as we never, or very 
rarely, suspect that we are dreaming, we always believe 
ijiat what we witness belongs to the order of material 
nature; we have therefore no desire or inclination to 



The Soul Immaterial. 231 

stop and call in question the fact of the existence of 
the phenomena presented, but always accept everything 
on the testimony of our senses, the same as when we are 
awake and looking at the scenery of the external world. 
It matters not at these times how grotesque or absurd 
things may appear, we always unqualifiedly accept 
everything as real that presents itself to our notice. 

When awake the great majority of mankind unhesi- 
tatingly believe that there is no other world capable of 
affecting their senses besides the physical; and so in 
dreaming all men believe as firmly that there is no other 
world besides the one then engaging their attention. 
This is owing to the fact that the impressions made upon 
the senses in both states affect us in a similar manner. 
Could the functions of all our physical senses be com- 
pletely suspended by sleep for a period of one thousand 
years, we should not be able to determine during that 
time whether the physical world was separated from us 
millions of miles or less fhan an inch. Indeed, we should 
not know for the time being that there was any other 
world than the psychical, which would then be wholly 
engaging our attention. 

We are at all times surrounded by the phenomena 
of two worlds, the physical and the psychical. When 
we make use of the brain we are in percipient relation 
with the former; when the use of this organ is dispensed 
with, we are in percipient connection with the latter. 
And such is the realization and implicit confidence that 
we place in our sensations and perceptions while dream- 



232 Obigin of the Soul. 

ing, that if it were possible for some personage to appear 
to US in one of our nocturnal visions and assert that 
we are surrounded by another world besides the one 
then engaging our attention; and were he to assert 
that the world to whicii he referred contained vast 
continents, mountains, oceans, islands, and rivers, and 
that the rivers referred to v.-ere in no respect inferior 
either in size, length, or importance, to those of the 
Mississippi, the Amazon, the Danube, the Nile, or the 
Volga; and that to bring this world into view, it was 
only necessary for him to touch a nerve of our body, — 
we should at the time be disposed to look upon such a 
statement as being one of the greatest absurdity. The 
absurdity of the statement would arise on account of 
our belief that the world which then occupied our at- 
tention was the only one of which we had any direct 
knowledge. And for like reasons, were we to make 
the unqualified assertion that at all times during our 
waking condition there is another world besides the 
physical, invisible to us and immediately surrounding 
us; that the latter world, though invisible to us, existed 
in complete relativity and objectivity to the thoughts 
of the mind; and that it required only a slight change 
in the condition of our nervous system to bring this 
subtile world into immediate view, such a declaration 
as this would be looked upon by every one with perfect 
surprise and incredulity. Nevertheless, such a world as 
the one to which we refer is made present to us times 
almost without number when we sleep. Each world is 



The Soul Immateeial. 233 

therefore brought to our immediate attention and view 
by alternate conditions of the brain and bodily senses. 
When asleep we are dependent upon the mind's linking 
its action with the brain, to bring the physical world 
into view; when awake, we depend upon the disconnec- 
tion of the mind with the brain-aotion to bring the 
subtile world of the soul into direct percipent view. 
Both worlds — the psychical and the physical, the spirit- 
ual and the material — exist simultaneously and at all 
times around us, whether awake or asleep. 

In dreams everything presented to our view belongs 
to the supersensual; the vision itself is, as it were, lifted 
completely above the plane of the physical. No man 
will for a moment contend that the objects of a dream 
are physical; hence they must be liy per- physical. In 
this state everything that appears is hyper-physical; 
the soul itself is in its very nature hyper-physical; the 
thoughts are hyper-physical; their accompanying emo- 
tions are hyper-physical; the sensations and the per- 
ceptions of the mind are hyper-physical; the objective 
phenomena are hyper-physical; thus everything belong- 
ing to this state is hyper-physical — spiritual. In this 
realm of mind everything but the soul is the production 
of the soul, and formed for its use. "When the soul 
makes use of the sense-organs of the body, its action 
in connection with the organs is intra-organic ; but when 
acting independently of these organs, as in dreaming, 
its action is supra-organic — ^hyper-physical, supra- 
sensual, and spiritual. In dreaming, everything per- 



234 Origin of the Soul. 

taining to the operations of the soul is undergoing un- 
ceasing change from thought to phenomena, and from 
phenomena to sensation and perception; there is noth- 
ing permanent but the soul; the soul perdures through 
all change and through all time; it ever remains the 
same sentient, personal, thinking being. How the 
thoughts produce objectiye phenomena in dreaming, 
and how the phenomena are enabled to produce cor- 
responding sense-impressions upon the several senses of 
the personal soul, will be shown further on, thus illus- 
trating the fact still more conclusively that man is a 
microcosm or little world, largely endowed with intel- 
lectual capability and powers of producing a spiritual 
counterpart of the phenomena of the macrocosm, or 
great world. The capability of the soul to exist and act 
independently of the body has been the subject of most 
earnest thought and inquiry from time immemorial. 
But before proceeding farther in this direction, we 
must first take up the subject of inspired dreams and 
visions. 



CHAPTER IV. 

INSPIEED DREAMS AND VISIONS. 
Section 1. — Inspired Dreams. 

WE are now about to enter upon one of the most 
remarkable features pertaining to the subject of 
dreaming; viz., that of inspired dreams. It is remark- 
able, indeed, that the Creator should have first put the 
brain and nerves of sense to sleep in order to enter into 
the presence of the soul of the seer for the purpose 
of conveying important information to man in regard 
to matters pertaining to his future state of existence. 
While men have looked upon the dream operations as 
being entirely unworthy of their attention, the Creator 
has bestowed upon this class of our mental powers the 
highest honors, by entering into the immediate pres- 
ence of the soul while its conscious powers are acting 
independently of the brain and sense-organs of the body. 
It may be very truly said, however, that these operations 
when brought under the controlling influence of the 
mil far outstrip those pertaining to the waking state 
of the brain. Could we always reason in our dreams, 
we should at these times be in possession of a purely 
spiritual, deliberative state of the mind, wholly unat- 
tainable by the use of the brain and other bodily organs. 

235 



336 Okigin of the Soul. 

The fact that this class of pov/ers has been so highly 
honored by the Creator — not only in providing for their 
existence, bnt in evoking their nse for the purpose of 
conveying important information to man — ^is a suffi- 
cient apology for us in giving the amount of time and 
attention which we have bestowed upon them. 

A revelation communicated to the soul in sleep must 
proceed upon the principle that the consciousness may 
become the recipient of knowledge at such times, and 
that there are other senses which may be called into 
requisition besides those of the body; and also, that 
these senses may be the recipient of other phenomena 
besides those of the material — a class of phenomena 
which we have heretofore shown to be super-sensual and 
spiritual. It is a well attested fact that our intellect 
is percipient of a certain class of phenomena while 
asleep and acting separately from the brain and bodily 
senses, of which the latter senses receive no impression 
or intimation whatever. The principal reason, no doubt, 
for selecting this condition in preference to the waking 
state of the brain and organs of sense to communicate 
with the soul in regard to a future state of existence is, 
that in external nature everything proceeds in strict 
accordance mth certain fixed laws; while in dreaming, 
a phenomenon of any kind — ^it matters not how strange 
or how remarkable the phenomenon to be adduced — ^it 
may be instantly produced simply by evoking the natu- 
ral laws of the soul — a class of laws which are constantly 
brought to our immediate notice and observation when 



Inspired Dreams. 237 

tlie "brain is asleep. Hence, dreaming, or vision, as it is 
often called, has been generally selected whenever any 
remarkable occurrence or display of phenomena that 
was entirely at variance with external nature was in- 
tended to be presented to the eye of the prophet or 
seer. There are, then, two very different classes of phe- 
nomena, and two very different inlets by which the 
consciousness may be approached; viz., the outer senses, 
which belong to the body, and which place us in per- 
cipient connection with the phenomena of matter; and 
the inner, which belong to the soul, and place us in 
percipient connection with phenomena of a spiritual 
nature. For even when awake it is not the external 
organs of the body that see and hear, but the sentient 
or spiritual occupant of the body that resides within us, 
and uses these organs simply as an instrumentality. As 
above stated, all revelation made to the soul when the 
body is asleep, as in dreams or vision, proceed upon the 
principle that there are senses in the soul that are 
capable of being addressed by a peculiar class of phe- 
nomena suited to their nature. In support of the hona- 
fide existence of this class of sense-powers and of their 
corresponding psychic phenomena, as well as their per- 
fect reliability to attest the presence of objects, we have, 
as has been already shown, a twofold class of facts; viz., 
the scientific facts of our self-consciousness, which are 
the only data we have for the operations of the mind, 
either asleep or awake; and the authority of revelation, 
of which we are now about to speak. 



238 Origin of the Soul. 

When the brain is awake we are placed in percipient 
connection with the phenomena of matter; when the 
brain is asleep, we are placed in percipient connection 
with another class of phenomena, which we have shown 
to proceed wholly from the mind, and hence are spirit- 
ual, or rather psycho-spiritual, in their nature. Dream- 
ing then ushers us, as it were, upon the confines or bor- 
derland of another life, where nothing appears to view 
but the soul and its own phenomenal scenery, which, 
under a steadfast law of mind, is presented to every man 
alike in the form of nocturnal vision. Thus nature 
never works by halves, but whatever is essential to the 
intellectual welfare of man is liberally bestowed alike 
upon all. It is strange, indeed, when viewed in accord- 
ance with modern thought, that the state of dreaming 
should have been selected by the Author of our being 
to communicate with the soul on matters relating to its 
present and future state of existence. Nevertheless, 
such has been the fact, as we shall now proceed to show. 

Every dream — whether natural or inspired — must 
proceed directly upon the principle that there are senses 
in the soul capable of being addressed. Thus we read: 
"In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep 
falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then 
he openeth the ears [sense of hearing] of men, and 
sealeth their instruction." * And then again, referring 
to this subject rather in the light of prophecy: "It shall 
come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my Spirit 



* Job xxxlli, 15. 



Inspiked Dreams. 239 

upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall 
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young 
men shall see visions.'' He who formed the soul and 
endowed it with the class of powers just referred to, has 
from time to time evoked those mysterious laws for the 
purpose of holding direct and repeated converse with 
the soul of man. Thus it was in a dream that God 
appeared to Abimelech, warning him against an un- 
lawful marriage; it was in a dream that Jacob saw a 
ladder extending from earth to heaven; it was in a 
dream that the announcement was made to Joseph of 
his coming elevation, in which the sheaves of his breth- 
ren were seen bowing in reverential obeisance to his 
sheaf; it was in a dream that the chief butler was prom- 
ised a discharge from confinement in prison; it was in 
a dream that the chief baker was foretold of his decapi- 
tation; it was in a dream that the seven years of plenty 
and seven years of famine were announced to Pharaoh; 
it was in a dream that Solomon was proffered a choice 
of wisdom, riches, and honor; it was in a dream that 
Kebuchadnezzar was informed of the approaching down- 
fall of his kingdom, which was presented to him under 
the figure of a great image standing before him; it was 
in a dream that the coming of Christ was announced 
to the world; it was in a dream that Mary, the mother 
of Christ, was warned to flee into Egypt from before 
the face of Herod; and it was in a dream that Pilate's 
wife was warned against the persecution of Christ. But 
as there are numerous instances of this nature, which 



240 Origin of the Soul. 

we shall have oecasion to consider somewhat in detail, 
we shall not extend the enumeration of these cases 
any farther until we take up the subject of visions 
in connection with the entranced condition of the body. 

In the ordinary visions of the night the thoughts 
of the mind seem to drift along in an aimless manner, 
without an)rthing to direct their order of succession, 
except perhaps the laws of suggestion and the asso- 
ciation of ideas. While in inspired dreams the current 
of thoug'ht is, for the most part, brought under the 
controlling influence of the wall-power, which then acts 
in connection with the other faculties of intelligence. 
Generally speaking, where the subject of inspired 
dreams is referred to in the pages of Sacred Authority, 
the condition of the body and mind are both men- 
tioned: the former, as being in a state of sleep; the 
latter, as being engaged in the exercise of thought, 
with its accompanying objective scenery, which is, for 
the most part, capable of being very minutely described; 
and sometimes, though not always, mention is made 
of the presence of a celestial personage, apparently en 
rapport with the dreamer or seer. In the case of Neb- 
uchadnezzar^s dream w^e have a distinct account given 
of the condition, both of the body and mind, in con- 
nection with a great image which appeared to him — 
not as a mere figment of the mind, but standing on 
its feet before him. 

History informs us that in ancient times the kings 
of Egypt and of Babylon were accustomed, after the 



Inspiked Dreams. 241 

observance of certain rites and ceremonies, to sleep at 
least one night in their temples for the purpose of 
consulting their heathen deities in regard to the in- 
terpretation of their dreams, which were beheved to 
have an ominous bearing upon themselves and the 
future prosperity of their respective kingdoms. But 
we read in the instance of Nebuchadnezzar, the king 
of Babylon, that the dream above referred to had 
been (as is very commonly the case with most dreams) 
entirely forgotten. It was for the purpose of recover- 
ing this forgotten dream that the king called together 
his council of wise men, but there was none found 
among them that was capable of giving a description 
of the dream and its interpretation, except the prophet 
Daniel. A full description of all the remarkable phe- 
nomena of this dream was presented to Daniel in a 
dream. The recovery and reproduction of this forgot- 
ten dream might have originated in the mind of the 
seer somewhat in the order and manner following: 
We have elsewhere shown that to think in sleep is to 
dream. Accordingly, if the thoughts of the dreamer 
were brought under the controlling influence of the 
will of another, as in the case of mind-reading, a for- 
gotten dream mig'ht be reproduced through the mind 
of a celestial personage with whom the interpreter was 
at the time en rapport. That there is such a law of 
mind as above mentioned, in which mind acts upon 
mind so as to control and give direction to the thoughts 
of another, appears to be well authenticated in many 
16 



242 Oeigin of the Soul. 

instances during the waking state of the hodily organs. 
And if this may take place in the waking state of the 
brain, how much more readily might it be brought 
about in the dream state, where the mind is acting 
independently of the brain and sense-organs of the 
body! Whether this be the true explanation or not, 
the state of dreaming has been selected as a favorable 
condition for conferring with the mind by means of 
the inspiration of thought directing thought. The 
forgotten dream was shown to the seer in a dream. 
'No doubt the entire phenomenon was presented to 
the seer in the same foiTa that it appeared to the Baby- 
lonian monarch, and in accordance with a like con- 
secutive train of thought. The same thoughts in sleep 
will always produce the same dream phenomenon. In 
the one case, Nebuchadnezzar was the sole author and 
observer of the phenomenon, while in the other the 
seer was the author and spectator of the fac-simile 
which he reproduced. All dreams are of a personal 
and private nature. In Daniel's dream there was a 
rational exercise of the mind; for we read that "Daniel 
had understanding in all visions and dreams." * 

Mind undoubtedly has its own system of laws, 
which operate as uniformly in its own sphere as do 
the laws of matter in the chemical world. We can not 
rationally suppose that nature in one sphere is placed 
under a rigid system of law, while the other is left to 
utter confusion and chaos. There can be no doubt 

* Dan. i, 17. 



Inspired Dreams. 243 

that the reign of law is as complete and universal in 
one department of nature as in another, in the sphere 
of mind as in the sphere of matter. 

Nebuchadnezzar, finding an interpreter in the 
prophet Daniel, received the following description of 
the forgotten dream, which, with its interpretation, 
he had so anxiously sought: "Thy dream and the vision 
of thy head upon thy bed are these; as for thee, 
king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, 
what should come to pass hereafter. . . . Thou, 
king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great 
image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before 
thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's 
head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, 
his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his 
feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till 
that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote 
the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, 
and brake them to pieces.^' * It is not our purpose to 
consider the prophetic nature of the above dream, 
neither in respect to individual history, nor to the 
world's history, but to view it simply in relation to 
the bona fide existence of its objective scenery, as spir- 
itual phenomena of the mind. We find in the case 
just cited three leading facts presented to our notice, 
which facts appear in all dreams alike, whether natural 
or inspired: First, the condition of the body, which 
was that of sleep; second, the thoughts of the mind; 

* Dan. ii, 28-35. 



244 Okigin of the Soul. 

and third, the appearance of objects presented to the 
consciousness of the dreamer. In the detailed account 
here given, a distinct reference is made, not only in 
regard to the condition of the body, wliich was that 
of sleep, but also to the troubled condition of the 
thoughts of the mind that gave rise to the image which, 
as an object of sight, stood before him. Now, if we 
were to explain this dream in accordance with the 
views commonly entertained upon this subject — ^viz., 
that the image represented as standing before* him 
was not a tertium quid, or third, something, differing 
both from the mind and its acts — we should, in that 
case, be constrained to deny the existence: of any and 
all such phenomena as lona fide and external to the 
mind of the dreamer. Taking such a view of the case, 
tlie ohject standing before Mm would be regarded simply 
as one and the same thing as the mental act. Thus the 
image and the act of the imagination have been re- 
garded by many metaphysical writers as being one and 
the same thing. Taking this view of the subject, the 
image is not a product of the mind objectively pre- 
sented, but simply a mental act or concept of thought. 
Such a position as this would entirely destroy the ob- 
jective scenery of dreams, both natural and inspired. 
But if we deny the fact of the real existence of the ob- 
jects presented in the above instance, as is commonly 
maintained in regard to dream objects in general, then 
there was no image presented, neither to the seer nor 
to the monarch, as above described, and accordingly, 



Inspiked Dkeams. 245 

if there were no objectified image standing hefore him, 
then there was no dream. And without a dream, the 
interpretation founded upon such a view was utterly 
false. Either the entire content of the vision — ^the 
thoughts and the image which, as an object of percep- 
tion, stood on its feet before him — was true, or else all 
was false. We can not consistently accept the vision 
in regard to one part as true, and reject the remainder 
as false, simply to carry out some preconceived theory 
of our own in regard to mental philosophy. If we 
are compelled in this instance to admit the fact of 
the existence of the image as described by the seer, 
then we are forced to admit the real existence of ohjects 
in dreams; for if there were no object as described, 
then there was no image, and without the image spoken 
of the revelation predicated upon such dream or vision 
(for it is called both a dream and a vision) as related 
in the Book of Daniel, is absolutely false. The reader 
may choose which horn of the dilemma he will accept. 
He must either admit the existence of objects affect- 
ing the senses of the soul — not those of the body — 
in dreams, or reject the Divine authority upon which 
this dream is supposed to rest. The objects that at- 
tend at such times always appear and disappear with 
the thoughts that they represent, and, for the time 
being, are, to the dreamer, as real in their nature as 
are the thoughts that accompany them. Thus we 
can not think without there being an objectified phe- 
nomenon attending the thoughts; nor can there be 



246 Okigin of the Soul. 

in this state a phenomenon without an accompanying 
thought. To think in sleep is to dream. Hence, in 
order to recover the forgotten dream, it was only 
necessary for the thoughts of the seer to be directed 
by a personage with whom the secret nature of the 
dream was known and with whom the seer was at the 
time en rapport. It appears to be a well-known law 
of mind for thought to suggest or inspire thought in 
the mind of another, either directly or indirectly, both 
by signs and by words. 

The laws of the soul as manifested to us in dream- 
ing have been, from time to time, brought into requi- 
sition on all such occasions as the above, requiring the 
production of phenomena that are at variance with 
the known laws of external nature. Thus the stone 
cut out without hands which smote the image on its 
feet grew, perhaps, in a moment of time (for time 
is almost annihilated in dreams) into a great moun- 
tain that filled the whole earth. The mind is capable 
of producing objects during the momentary flight of 
a dream that all the combined forces of external na- 
ture could not accompHsh during incalculable ages of 
time. This is owing to the fact that material nature 
has its own particular class of laws which always oper- 
ate steadfastly under its own special requirements of 
time, while the phenomena of a dream are regulated 
wholly by the laws pertaining to the phenomena of 
thought. Were we to ignore the latter class of mental 
laws, it would completely undermine a great part of 



Inspired Dreams. 247 

the authority upon which revelation is hased, as well 
as to undermine the authority of consciousness, upon 
which the whole philosophy of the human mind is 
predicated. 

It is no doubt for reasons stated above that the 
Creator has so frequently evoked these special laws of 
the mind whenever an order of things was about to 
be presented to the dreamer and seer that differed in 
a very striking manner from the process going on in 
the realm of matter. We have a remarkable occur- 
rence of this nature related in the ca^.e of Jacob's 
dream of a ladder stretching across the incalculable 
space that separates the heavens from the earth. In 
physical nature, an occurrence such as is here described 
would be impossible without violating almost every 
known law of matter. Taking the physical view of 
this case, in which the earth is known to be turning 
upon its axis at the rate of a thousand miles an hour, 
and at the same time moving in its orbit at the im- 
mense velocity of more than one thousand miles a 
minute, it would seem utterly impossible for so frail 
a structure as a ladder to rest upon such a movable 
foundation as this, without its structure separating be- 
fore reaching the inconceiveable depths of the milky 
way. If we take also into consideration the fact that 
light travels at the rate of one hundred and eighty 
thousand miles a second, it would require years to 
traverse this mighty void before reaching the earth, 
so as to render visible to the seer the One standing 



248 Origin of the Soul. 

above it; and so it may be said in regard to the sense 
of hearing, it would require, under these circumstances, 
an inconceiveable period of time for vocal sounds to 
pass from the top of a structure like the one above 
described before reaching the earth and ear of the 
dreamer. But while such an occurrence would be 
regarded as utterly impossible, when viewed in ac- 
cordance with the laws and processes of external na- 
ture, nothing could be more readily accomplished 
under the well-known laws of mind, as witnessed by 
every man in dreaming. And this, indeed, is the true 
and only way in which revelation describes the phe- 
nomenon in question to have taken place. We are 
told it was a dream. In the physical realm, as just 
stated, such a phenomenon would be quite impossible, 
while in accordance with the laws of the human in- 
tellect, in dreaming nothing could be more easily ac- 
complished than the phenomenon above related. He 
who is the Author of all law is also a respecter of law, 
and hence has from time to time evoked this myste- 
rious class of subtile laws whenever a phenomenon 
about to be presented to the human soul was entirely 
different from the familiar order of material things. 
The calling forth of this mysterious and hidden class 
of laws of the soul in the way and manner above de- 
scribed reminds us of the truth and force of that fa- 
miliar saying, "There are m'ore things in heaven and 
earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy." 
In the instance related of the above dream, the 



Inspired Dreams. 249 

patriarch was lying upon the ground, with the head 
resting upon stones for its pillow. The body was 
asleep, the soul was dreaming. By the sleep of the 
brain the seer was placed in the midst of hyper- 
physical phenomena — a class of phenomena from 
which all material objects are excluded, where nothing 
appears present to the dreamer but the soul, thought, 
and its attending objective scenery. In the midst of 
this psychical realm and scenery a ladder appeared, 
upon which angels were ascending and descending in 
the presence of the seer. In inspired dreams the soul 
does not ascend into the supernatural; but that which 
is sometimes regarded as supernatural may be pre- 
sented to the seer through the well-known subtile phe- 
nomena that surround the soul in a dream. Taking 
into consideration the fact that certain conditions of 
the body and mind are requisite in all cases of this 
kind in order to establish such intercourse with the 
soul through the private channels of thoug^ht (for all 
dreams, with their attending phenomena, are private), 
such dreams as above mentioned miay be regarded as 
belonging to the preternatural rather than to the super- 
natural. Inspired visions appear to be based upon cer- 
tain known laws of mind, and hence are conducted in 
accordance with the operation of these laws. Thus mind 
has its own system of laws which govern its operation 
with a like certainty as those which govern in the phys- 
ical world; and dreaming affords a favorable opportunity 
for bringing many of those laws into view that are 



250 Okigin of the Soul. 

unknown to the waking state. The physical world 
has its own established laws of intercourse, and so it 
may be said of the world of vision. In inspired dreams 
the soul of the seer, while acting separately from its 
bodily organs — the brain and senses — is apparently 
brought en rapport with soul that is disembodied. 
Mind in these cases is placed by some mysterious law of 
mind into direct intercourse with mind; hence dream- 
ing affords a favorable opportunity for presenting to 
view such phenomena as are entirely incompatible with 
physical laws and method. 

On what other principle than the method here 
referred to could we explain the phenomena of a vision 
like that of the burning bush which was not consumed? 
No such occurrence as here mentioned could have taken 
place under the operations of the laws pertaining to 
the chemical elements of the world. These elements, 
and the laws that govern them, have been ordained 
solely for the support of material objects; but there is 
a class of laws like those which we witness in the 
dream-phenomenon, that are lifted entirely above the 
operations of physical nature — ^laws which have been 
placed by the Author of our being far above the reach 
of chemical affinities and chemical action. The laws 
of the psychical have been found abundantly sufficient 
to convey a certain class of facts to the human soul 
that are entirely at variance with the regular order of 
external nature; hence their complete adaptation to 
communications of this kind. Any attempt to ex- 



Inspired Dreams. 251 

plain phenomena of this nature on the basis of purely 
physical laws and method would be futile in the ex- 
treme; but when viewed in accordance with the well- 
known facts and laws of mind, as presented to every 
one nightly in vision, nothing could admit of a more 
easy solution than the occurrence above mentioned. 
On no other principle than the one here referred to 
could the remarkable phenomenon portrayed to Ezekiel 
in the description of the "valley of dry bones" admit 
of rational solution. When viewed in accordance with 
the well-known laws of vision, as we find exemplified 
in the natural powers of the human soul, nothing 
could be easier than for the mind of the seer to pro- 
duce such a scene as here described. On this plain, 
each bone was seen to arise and join its fellow until 
a great moving multitude stood up, clothed with 
sinews and flesh. There is nothing here described that 
would be impossible for the mind to perform in a noc- 
turnal vision, provided the thoughts of the dreamer 
were directed in such logical order as to reconstruct 
the human form. Any individual having a like pur- 
pose in view might reproduce a like occurrence in 
which the bones of a vast army of the dead might be 
made to reappear in a dream — ^in an ordinary vision of 
the night — provided the will was acting with the same 
freedom as the other faculties of intelligence. With 
the will acting so as to co-ordinate the thoughts at 
such times, we could produce any scenery that we 
might desire simply by a voluntary exercise of 



252 Oeigin of the Soul. 

thought. Are we justified, then, in denying the ex- 
istence of such a phenomenon as the above simply 
because it is contrary to the laws of external nature, 
when there are well-known laws in the human mind 
by which such facts may be readily accounted for? 
Did the rational faculty operate at all times during 
sleep and dreaming, our dream-life would afford an 
opportunity for a rapid rational exercise of the mental 
powers far outstripping those of the waking life. But 
in general the rational order of mental exercise is an 
exception to the rule in this state, and when it does 
occur, it is commonly fitful and of short duration. The 
reason of this has been already explained. 

The question may be asked, and it is entirely perti- 
nent to the case, Was the phenomenon of the burning 
bush simply a vision? The answer is. The phenome- 
non here in question appears to coincide perfectly with 
this class of laws. Take the case of the patriarch 
Joseph, who dreamed of being in the field binding 
sheaves with his brethren, in which all the sheaves 
arose into an upright position, and those of his breth- 
ren made obeisance to his sheaf. Had not this occur- 
rence been handed down to us as a dream, we should 
nevertheless have been compelled to explain it in ac- 
cordance with this class of mental laws, for the reason 
that such phenomena, being incompatible with physical 
laws and method, are found to agree in all respects 
with psychical laws and phenomena. The same re- 
mark is applicable to Joseph's dream, in which the 



Inspired Dreams. 253 

sun, moon, and the eleven stars were seen making their 
obeisance to him. Had the story thus related been 
handed down to us without stating the fact that it 
was a dream, we should nevertheless have been com- 
pelled, on account of the character of the phenomena 
mentioned, to view it simply as a vision, and not as 
an actual disturbance of the planetary system. Such, 
indeed, is the ease and facility with which the mind 
produces its objects in dreams, that phenomena may 
appear to us in any and every conceiveable manner and 
form, simply as the products of our own thoughts. 
Having now considered a few of what may be regarded 
typical dreams related by writers of Sacred Authority, 
we propose to pass to the consideration of the subject 
of trance, which forms the basis of some very noted 
visions related by the inspired penman. 

Section 2. — Trance. 

In trance, as well as in sleep, there is more or 
less lethargy of the brain, in which the mind is, in 
some instances, capable of setting up an action inde- 
pendent of this organ and its dependent sensory nerves, 
similar, in many respects, to that which takes place in 
dreaming. In both sleep and trance there is an untoned 
or enervated condition of certain parts of the nerv- 
ous system. In both conditions we have a diminution 
of the toning nerve-current, upon which the proper 
functions of the nervous system depend. In sleep, this 
diminution of tonicity is natural and normal, while in 



254 Oeigin of the Soul. 

trance the diminution of the toning-current is preter- 
natural and abnormal. 

Besides that special differentiated nerve-current 
required for toning the brain and its system of sensory 
and muscular nerves — ^that part of our nervous sys- 
tem directly connected in the performance of the 
mental operations — there is a somewhat similar subtile 
toning current circulating throughout the whole extent 
of the ganglionic system of nerves, that part of the 
nervous system directly concerned in carrying on the 
vital functions of organic life. This toning-agent 
serves to aid the nutritive functions in the formation 
of the organic chemical compounds, of which the nu- 
merous tissues of the body are composed. If, therefore, 
.this subtile nerve-current should, from any cause what- 
ever, become partially arrested or greatly weakened in 
both classes of nerves, we have an enervated condition 
of the entire nervous system, known as trance. In 
some instances this enervation becomes so great as to 
suspend almost entirely the action of the heart and 
lungs, simulating, as it were, the sleep of death. So 
close, indeed, is the resemblance that sometimes takes 
place between trance and death that it may even be- 
come difficult for the medical attendant to determine 
whether the case is one of suspended animation simu- 
lating death, or one of real death. In some instances 
the approximation to death is so close that the only 
evidence of life remaining is a very slight degree of 
animal warmth. In natural or normal sleep, the loss 



Inspieed Dreams. 255 

caused by the waste of nerve-cells — ^those cells upon 
which the toning nerve-current of the brain and 
senses depend — ^is soon restored by the process of nu- 
trition; while in cases of trance the loss of that class 
of cells furnishing the toning current necessary to 
carry on the functions of the ganglionic system of 
nerves — that system upon which the operations of life 
depend — ^is sometimes very slowly replenished on ac- 
count of the almost entire suspension of the nutritive 
powers. The diminished nutrition in these cases is 
owing to the almost entirely suspended condition of 
the heart's action, resulting in great diminution of the 
circulation of the blood. This form of nerve-depres- 
sion is also attended with a suspended condition of 
the respiratory movements of the lungs. An extreme 
depression of the vital powers, like the above, may 
arise from a variety of causes, among which may be 
mentioned strong emotional excitement of the con- 
scious physical powers. The depressing emotions, 
which belong to the conscious class, may exert a de- 
pressing influence upon the unconscious or vital class 
of the psychical powers, which are concerned in carry- 
ing on the functions of organic life, thus lowering the 
tone of all the bodily functions. It is here worthy of 
remark, however, that the suspended condition of the 
nerve-current does not, in every instance, extend to all 
the different parts of the nervous system alike. We 
have an exemplification of this fact in cases of partial 
and temporary paralysis, in which the suspension of 



256 Oeigin of the Soul. 

tonicity is limited to that class of nerves whose office 
is to carry on the muscular movements of the body. 
In like manner we may have, in certain instances of 
trance, a suspension of the nerve-current and conse- 
quent suspension of normal tonicity, extending only 
to a certain part of the nervous system, as the volun- 
tary nerves, which preside over the voluntary muscles. 
Accordingly, we have cases of this partial nature where 
the brain and nerves of special sense may be receiving 
only a partial supply of toning influence, just enough 
to enable the mind to operate in the process of thought 
and emotional feeling in connection with the brain and 
senses, while at the same time the vital functions are 
at such low ebb as to be able to maintain scarcely 
a perceptible degree of animal warmth. An individual 
thus situated may be able to see his friends standing 
around him, and hear their remarks in reference to 
his supposed dissolution. He may even witness the 
preparation which is going on for his interment without 
being able to move any of his voluntary muscles — such 
as those concerned in the movements of his limbs, eyes, 
eyelids, and vocal organs. In this motionless condi- 
tion of the body there is a complete enervation and 
entranced condition of the motor-centers (corpora 
striata) which preside over the voluntary muscular 
movements of the body, wliile at the same time the 
other parts of the brain and the nerves of sense may 
be receiving a partial supply of the innervating nerve- 
current, sufficient, at least, to enable the mind to carry 



Inspired Dreams. 267 

on, to a certain extent, the exercise of thought. But 
in other cases of trance, as where the enervation ex- 
tends to both systems of nerves — as the brain and its 
centers, the ganglionic system of nerves and its cen- 
ters — the brain may pass into a state of great lethargy, 
like that of profound sleep, in which the mind is 
capable of setting up an action independently of this 
organ and its dependent nerves of sense, quite similar 
to that mental action which takes place in dreaming. 

It is only in those entranced states of the nervous 
system where the toning influence of the brain has 
been brought to a condition like that of deep or pro- 
found sleep, that in former times have been selected 
as a favorable opportunity for evoking the laws of 
mind in cases of inspired visions. Indeed, it may be 
said that it is only in the enervated states of the brain, 
like that of sleep and of trance, that inspired dreams 
and visions have been alluded to by the Old and New 
Testament writers as affording a favorable opportunity 
for carrying on intercourse with the soul in the form 
of rapturous vision. In the case of the prophet Daniel, 
whose visions were not only numerous but of great 
variety and character, we have in every instance a de- 
scription given of the body, which w^as always spoken 
of as being either in a state of sleep or else in a state 
of extreme prostration, like that of the entranced con- 
dition. The same may be said in reference to the vis- 
ions of the New Testament. The state of the body 
is generally described as being in a prostrate condi- 
17 



^58 Origin of the Soul. 

tion, like that of sleep or trance, while the mind is 
referred to as being in a state of active operation. 

Both Peter and Pan! seemed to possess that pe- 
culiar tendency of the nervous system which rendered 
them liable to the entranced condition of the body. 
Thus Peter at one time, being overcome by a sense of 
hunger while on the house-top, fell into a trance, and 
saw in a vision a sheet let down before him. And at 
another time, while in prison, sleeping between two 
soldiers, he fell into a rapturous vision. In the various 
untoned conditions of the brain, as in sleep and trance, 
the mind, unable to connect its operations with the 
brain — its organic instrument — is sometimes capable 
of such independent action as above mentioned. It 
is an endowment bestowed upon every man alike to 
experience visions during sleep. But there are certain 
mental capacities or powers peculiar to some that are 
not possessed by others. Thus Peter, with certain 
other disciples, possessed the rare quality of receiving 
instruction by means of rational visions. We see this 
remarkable quality of mind and brain exemplified in 
the instance of the Transfiguration, w'here Peter, James, 
and John were selected, separate and apart from the 
other disciples, to witness this remarkable occurrence — 
an occurrence in which they were all represented as 
simultaneously falling prostrate to the earth, appar- 
ently entranced. Matthew relates the occurrence which 
here took place as a vision, and all visions require a 
quiescent or dormant state of the brain. In regard 



Inspired Dreams. 259 

to the contents of this vision the several evangelists 
agree; but they differ somewhat in their description 
of the physical condition of the body. One describes 
the disciples present as being lieavy with sleep; hut all 
agree in regard to the prostrate and helpless condition 
of the body which befell them. 

But how shall we explain this condition, this sud- 
den and simultaneous prostration of the disciples on 
the occasion above mentioned? And why were only 
three of them selected from among the others to wit- 
ness this remarkable apparition? Was it on account 
of a physiological predisposition of the three here 
spoken of to become enervated through the sudden loss 
of nerve-power that they fell prostrate to the earth, 
as it were, completely entranced? In the case here 
referred to there seems to have been a complete sus- 
pension of the functions of the nerves of external sense 
and muscular motion; for upon the restoration of 
sense and motion the disciples called upon to witness 
this occurrence, when looking up, saw no one but Christ 
standing before them, the other personages of the vision 
having entirely disappeared from view. The person- 
ages here alluded to disappeared, doubtless, for the 
reason that in their spiritual form they were not cog- 
nizable to the external organs of sense. By the inner 
sense alone can we perceive only the spiritual; so by 
the outer we perceive nothing but the physical. In 
this instance, the description of the vision precedes 
the description that is given of the condition of their 



260 Origin of the Soul. 

bodies, for the reason, no doubt, of the paramount im- 
portance of the former over that of the latter. But 
how are we to explain that instantaneous prostration 
which their bodies simultaneously underwent, unless 
it was by means of nerve-depression which suddenly 
overcame them? And was this loss of nerve-power 
brought on by a sudden, indescribable fear or dread 
of something about to befall them, which struck feel- 
ings of terror to the soul, causing the nervous system 
to weaken and wilt down as suddenly as if they had 
all been struck by a blow upon the head? We are 
informed, in connection with the account, that great 
fear fell upon them. Was this sudden fear, then, 
caused by an intimation or unexpected announcement 
that Moses and Elias were there, standing in their 
midst, ready to be revealed to them, and that this 
could be accomplished only by an entranced condition 
of the brain and vital energies? Be this as it may, 
there seems, in this instance, to have been a sudden 
prostration or failure of the nervous energy sufficient 
to cause all three of them to fall suddenly and simul- 
taneously to the earth. It must be remembered that 
the disciples were not free from all emotional feeling 
of dread or fear; for after this occurrence we are in- 
formed that Peter, fearing the multitude, denied his 
Master. At another time, in attempting to walk upon 
the sea, his faith failed, and he cried out for help, lest 
he might sink beneath the waves. Whether this be 
the true way of accounting for the helpless condition 



I'KSPiEED Dreams. 261 

of the body at the Transfiguration or not, it seems to 
be in all cases of visions, whether natural or inspired, 
a necessary prerequisite that the brain and senses 
should be in a state of suspended activit}^, such as 
takes place in the untoned states of trance, sleep, and 
dreaming. As the condition of the body was always 
thought to be worthy of mention by the several evan- 
gelists whenever an allusion was made to the subject 
of visions, it would seem to be well worthy of our 
consideration and attempted explanation on physio- 
logical principles. 

Is it not indeed very remarkable that such a state 
of the brain should have been uniformly selected in 
preference to the active or waking state of this organ, 
in order to communicate with the soul of the seer in 
all cases of inspired visions? No doubt the true rea- 
son is that no such visions, either natural or inspired, 
can take place in the normal waking condition of the 
brain, but must in all cases depend upon an untoned 
or inactive condition of this organ and its dependent 
nerves. In order to develop such phenomena, it is 
very evident that certain states or conditions of the 
body are as requisite in their production as are certain 
conditions of the mind. That which sometimes ap- 
pears to us to depend on supernatural agency or spe- 
cial infraction of certain laws of nature may, upon 
more careful examination of the case, be found to de- 
pend upon the operation of some unobserved law of 
the human mind, as in the instance just related, as 



262 Okigin of the Soul. 

well as in the numerous instances of dreams and visions 
referred to by the Old and New Testament writers. 
Such, indeed, appears to have been the common mode 
of communicating in former times between the worlds 
of the living and the dead. The disciples were, no 
doubt, chosen from among the great multitude of men 
on account of their peculiar fitness of mind and brain 
to serve in the work for which they were severally 
called. Some appeared to be distinguished on account 
of their natural aptitude for visions, some for their 
powers of moral suasion, while others appeared to have 
been chosen on account of a peculiar gift of tongues 
or prophecy. The three disciples who were called upon 
to witness the Transfiguration were evidently selected 
from among the others on account of a peculiar sus- 
ceptibility of their nervous system to fall into that 
entranced condition which rendered them fit subjects 
to witness this remarkable apparition. 

In order to understand how the mental emotions 
operate upon the vital forces of the organism in tem- 
porarily suspending the functions of the nervous sys- 
tem, as in cases of trance, let us for a few moments 
advert to the fact already pointed out, that the soul 
builds the body, that it differentiates the anatomical 
structure into all its parts, and likewise differentiates 
all the various functions of the several parts and organs 
of the body. It not only carries on the functions of 
the different parts, but keeps all the parts in repair; 
for if the soul can make use of the body it can certainly 



Inspiked Dreams. 263 

keep the parts in repair to subserve such. use. In order 
to perform this work, the 'personal soul must stand 
in constant causal relation to each and every part of 
the personal organism. This relation, as we have else- 
where shown, is maintained and carried on through one 
class of the psychical powers; viz., the unconscious, in- 
stinctive, which are unceasing in their operations from 
the commencement of life to its close; while the other 
class, which are known and designated as the conscious 
or mental powers, make use of the body in the per- 
formance of the various operations of intelligence. 
The one class, then, operate instinctively, unconsciously, 
and involuntarily, while the other class of the psy- 
chical powers are conscious and voluntary. Taking this 
view of the psychical powers in reference to the ana- 
tomical structure and the physiology of the animal 
functions, it is evident that the soul, when greatly dis- 
turbed in one class of its powers, will exert more or 
less disturbing influence upon the other class, as we 
often see manifested in the physiological functions of 
the body. Hence the fact is well known that any de- 
cided disturbing influence arising in the mental pow- 
ers — 'Such as great fear or any very sudden and sad- 
dening news — will serve to disturb or greatly depress 
the organic functions; and, vice versa, any serious de- 
pression of these functions may result in deep dis- 
turbance of the mental operations. We may in this 
way account for the well-known reciprocal influence 
of the two classes of powers upon each other in the 



264 Origin of the Soul. 

disturbance of the bodily functions; for as both classes 
of powers inhere in the same personal soul and are 
respectively connected in their operations with the two 
classes of functions of the body, any serious, disturbing 
influence arising in one class of the psychical powers 
must exert a disturbing influence upon the other and 
its corresponding bodily operations. 

As proof of the disturbing influence of the mind 
over the body, how often are we called upon to witness 
persons of nervous temperament, accompanied with 
strong emotional tendencies, quake and quail upon the 
reception of some sudden and saddening news, which 
in very many instances cause the individual to fall 
fainting and prostrate to the ground! Thus, with cer- 
tain individuals of peculiar nervous make-up, any very 
sudden and startling information received by one class 
of the psychical powers — as the mental — will often dis- 
turb and even entirely overcome the vital operations con- 
nected with the other class. Under this chain of psy- 
chical disturbance, in which the vital energies of the 
soul become more or less weakened and powerless, the 
bodily functions are correspondingly weakened, for the 
reason that the unconscious, instinctive, psychical 
powers stand in constant causal relation to the vital 
or nutritive forces upon which depend the production 
of the dynamic cells that furnish the toning current 
of the nervous system. Whenever, therefore, any sud- 
den and saddening news is communicated to certain 
individuals of a decided nervous temperament, such 



Inspired Dreams. 265 

persons have been known to fall down as suddenly as 
if they had received a blow upon the head. It is in 
consequence of the effect of great emotional excitement 
acting upon the nervous system that the culprit, when 
receiving his sentence, will sometimes turn pale and 
tremble at the meaning of a word pronounced in his 
hearing. It is not simply the sound of the word that 
troubles him, but the meaning which his mind at- 
taches to it, that agitates his frame. In some instances 
such persons will, when the death-penalty is about to 
be executed upon them, become perfectly limp and 
powerless on account of the mental influence at these 
times disturbing the vital functions — those functions 
which directly depend upon the unconscious powers 
of the soul. 'No doubt the effects here described would 
be much more frequent and strikingly manifested were 
such executions to take place in a more summary man- 
ner and with but little previous warning to the indi- 
vidual. Indeed, any great sudden emotional excite- 
ment will, in almost every instance, more or less power- 
fully prostrate the vital energies of the psychical arti- 
ficer of the body; hence any exciting or depressing news 
suddenly imparted to the conscious or mental powers 
of the soul will cause some persons to swoon away on 
account of the immediate check it produces to the flow 
of the nerve-current, upon which the normal functions 
of the brain and other parts of the nervous system 
largely depend. We have instances related which strik- 
ingly illustrate this effect, where the exhaustion brought 



266 Okigin of the Sotjl. 

about by the sudden check of the toning current of 
life becomes so great that the vital functions are com- 
pletely and permanently suspended, resulting in the 
deatli of the individual. Hence we have syncope, 
trance, and even death itself, taking place accordingly 
as the suspension of these functions are partial and 
transient, or more or less prolonged, complete, and per- 
manent. How often is it the case that in the midst 
of a very sudden alarm of fire some will instantly lose 
their reason, and fall powerless to the floor, without 
making any effort whatever to effect their escape from 
the raging flames that surround them! 

Having thus briefly considered the effect of the 
depressing emotions — such as that of great fear in dis- 
turbing the vital functions — let us now return for a 
few moments to the facts presented at the Transfigu- 
ration, and see whether certain emotional disturbances, 
acting upon the nervous system of the three disciples 
present, were the direct cause of their becoming sud- 
denly and simultaneously prostrated or not. In this 
instance there seems to have been such a peculiar tend- 
ency to and fitness for this condition of the nervous 
system as to render a part of the disciples proper sub- 
jects for receiving knowledge through the medium of 
visions. As stated above, they were, no doubt, selected 
from along the coasts of Galilee on account of their 
peculiar fitness of mind and brain to serve in the ca- 
pacity for which they were chosen. Attracted by the 
personal appearance and character of Christ, he had 



Inspired Dreams. 267 

but to say, ^Tollow me/' and they straightway followed 
him. The great multitude of men with whom he 
mingled could not have been thus induced. That 
these disciples had a peculiar susceptibility and tend- 
ency of the nervous system to become entranced would 
appear evident from its frequent occurrence subsequent 
to the time of the Transfiguration, as we shall presently 
show. 

Now, if, in connection with this peculiar tendency 
of the nervous system to become entranced, we should 
take into consideration that unlimited confidence which 
the disciples placed in the declarations and extraordi- 
nary power of their Master, it was only necessary for 
him to inform them that Moses and Elias — those time- 
honored worthies of the sainted dead — were then stand- 
ing in their midst, ready to be revealed to them. But 
to bring about an apparition of this nature it was 
necessary that a certain change in regard to the func- 
tions of the brain and senses of the body should take 
place — such as that of the entranced condition — in 
order to bring those noted worthies of the long-vener- 
ated dead into their immediate presence and recogni- 
tion. Such information as this, imparted to them at 
thiat time, would, no doubt, be well calculated to strike 
terror to the soul and bring about that simultaneous 
prostration of the brain and nervous system which was 
manifested by that complete helplessness that appeared 
to have befallen them on this occasion; for we are told, 
in connection with this occurrence, that great fear fell 



268 Origin of the Soul. 

npon them, and that the disciples fell "upon their face, 
and Jesus came and touched them, and said, "Arise, 
and be not afraid/' * He who formed the soul and 
endowed it with the faculties of intelligence and with 
such other powers as those connecting it with the bod- 
ily functions, knew what chord to strike in the mental 
system to bring about the necessary result required at 
the Transfiguration. There can be but little doubt that 
the sudden and simultaneous enervation of the nerv- 
ous system which befell the three disciples alike, was 
brought about by a dread of some impending danger 
which they thought was about to befall them. Had all 
the disciples been present at the scene of this occur- 
rence, unless all were similarly entranced, there would 
undoubtedly have been a discrepancy in their several 
statements as to what took place. 

In regard to the objects presented in this vision, 
there was no mixing of the physical with the spiritual. 
It has been heretofore shown that in dreaming we per- 
ceive only the psychical, that as the physical recedes 
from view the psychical appears in response to our 
thoughts. AYe can not perceive the physical, except 
when we employ the physical senses; nor can we, for like 
reasons, perceive the psychical — the soul and its phe- 
nomena — except b}^ the separate use of the inner senses. 
The personal soul has its senses as well as the personal 
body; each class has its own appropriate class of ob- 
jects — the physical for perceiving the physical, the psy- 

* Matt, xvii, 6-10 



Insptret) Dheaivtr. 269 

chical for perceiving the psychical. Nature proceeds 
in a definite manner in all her operations. Take away 
the physical senses, and you take away our abiUty to 
perceive the physcial. Both sleep and trance close the 
eye and ear to the physical, and open the senses to 
the recognition of the spiritual. At the Transfiguration 
the whole content of the vision was psychical. It was 
not the physical body of Christ that appeared to the dis- 
ciples and ^hone with such brightness when standing in 
contrast with the other two personages. It must have 
been the soul — the Divine nature — that shone as the 
brightness of the sun on this occasion. Neither was 
it the raiment that covered the physical body that was 
as white as th^ light. Nature never presents her work 
in a mixed manner, but proceeds by law and definite 
order. The realm of mind has its definite course of 
procedure, the same as that which prevails in the realm 
of matter. The only instance in which both orders of 
phenomena are presented to view at the same time, is 
in somnambulism, where some one or more of the 
physical senses are asleep, while others are awake, thus 
placing us at the same moment of time in connection 
with both the physical and the psychical. When mak- 
ing use of the ph3^sical senses, we have the unmixed 
physical ; when the inner senses are disconnected from 
their physical adjuncts, as in sleep and trance, we have 
nothing but psychical objects presented to our observa- 
tion. The three evangelists agree in regard to their 
account of what they saw in the vision of the Trans- 



270 Origin of the Soul. 

figuration. The vision was, no doubt, on account of 
its paramount importance described first; and that of 
the condition of the body afterwards. The entrance- 
ment of the body and the occurrence of the vision must 
have taken place simultaneously. Taking the office, 
then, of the physical senses, which are expressly adapted 
to the perception of their own special class of phenom- 
ena; and the special relation of those of the psychical 
to their phenomena (of which we all have a similar 
experience when dreaming) we shall have no difficulty 
presented in regard to the operation of the psychical 
and the physiological laws which served to mark the 
above occasion. We have elsewhere shown that the 
phenomena that make up the dream-world are con- 
stantly pressing around us and about us, but are only 
brought to our view when the brain and physical 
senses are asleep. In reference to this class of phe- 
nomena, of which we are all familiar when the body 
is asleep, we should know nothing whatever in regard 
to the fact of their existence in relation to our thoughts 
were it not for their appearance in sleep. 

In regard to the predisposition of the nervous sys- 
tem of those disciples present at the Transfiguration, 
of becoming entranced, but little is known above what 
has been already mentioned. Not very long after this 
occurrence, James, the brother of John, suffered mar- 
tyrdom; hence but little is known of his history in 
regard to the subject of visions. "We have already re- 
ferred to the case of Peter, who, being overcome by a 



Inspiked Dreams. 2Ti 

sense of hunger while on the housetop, fell into a 
trance, and had a vision of a sheet let down before 
him. And at another time, while in prison, sleeping 
between two soldiers, he experienced what may be re- 
garded a remarkable vision and liberation from im- 
prisonment; and, lastly, though not least, the vision 
of the Transfiguration, as above referred to. This pe^ 
culiar tendency to nerve-prostration, so common to the 
entranced condition, was also very strikingly mani- 
fested in the case of John at the opening of the- Apoca- 
lyptic vision, where he is representted. as- falling do-wn' 
at the feet of the celestial personage as one dead. It 
was not death, but the appearance of death. "And 
He laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me. Fear 
not; I am the first and the last." In this particular 
instance, John experienced a similar emotional feeling 
of fear or dread to that which attended him at the 
vision of the Transfiguration. But before entering 
upon the subject of the Apocalyptic vision, we must 
first consider one or two instances of trance and vision 
mentioned by St. Paul. 

There seems to have been a similar peculiarity or 
fitness of mind and brain to fall into the entranced 
condition in the case of the apostle Paul. Thus he 
informs us that, while on his way to Damascus to 
carry out his mission of persecution and death, he was 
suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of great remorse, 
and, becoming terrified at what he was about to put 
into execution, he suddenly fell prostrate to the ground 



272 Okigix of the Soul. 

— not unconscious, but physically helpless and appar- 
ently entranced. And while in this condition, he had 
a vision in which a bright light shone around him. 
That this was a vision appears from the fact that in 
relating the circumstance to King Agrippa, he says, 
"I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." * 
"I saw at midday a light above the brightness of the 
sun shining round about me and them which journeyed 
with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, 
I heard a voice speaking unto me/' Those that were 
with him, becoming frightened at the sudden judg- 
ment that fell upon Paul, also fell to the earth ap- 
parently entranced. They saw the light, but did not 
hear the voice of condemnation and reprimand. Paul, 
having partially recovered from the shock of the brain 
and nerve-centers, but with the optic nerves still un- 
toned and paralyzed, was led into the city of Damas- 
cus, helpless, amaurotic, blind. In this instance there 
appeared to be a similar prostration or entranced con- 
dition of the nervous system as that which charax^ter- 
ized those cases above mentioned. Indeed, we have 
no instances of vision taking place — either natural or 
inspired — except in sleep and in the entranced con- 
dition of the brain; for in all cases where the mind is 
acting in connection with the brain and external 
senses, we have that condition of mental exercise known 
as the waking state, which places us in connection with 
the physical organs of the body. Thus we see that the 

* Acts, chap, xxvl, 14-19. See also chap, xxli. 



Inspiked Bkeams. 273 

deeiplj-entranced condition of the nervous system, like 
that of the untoned state of the brain in sleep, affords 
a suitable condition of brain and mind for holding 
direct intercourse with the soul by means of those pe- 
culiar phenomena known as vision. 

In the waking state the acts of the mind take place 
in connection wath the organs of the body; hence all 
such acts of the soul are, as we have already said, intra- 
organic; while in the untoned state of the brain, in 
sleep and dreaming, as well as in the entranced con- 
dition of the body, the thoughts of the mind arise 
independently of the enervated brain. These acts are 
supra-organic. When the mind is acting without the 
brain, all our acts of consciousness, like those of dream- 
ing or vision, are hyperphysical. Thus the acts of 
seeing, hearing, etc., are all supersensual — supersensual 
for the reason that the corporeal senses are asleep and, 
hence, not catenating with the acts of the mind. We 
do not in this connection make use of the term super- 
sensual in the sense of the supernatural; for while it is 
perfectly natural for the mind to act in connection 
with the organs of sense when these are awake, it is 
equally normal and natural for it to act without these 
organs during the untoned states of the brain in sleep. 
Both dreaming and trance, then, afford a favorable op- 
portunity for holding hyperphysical intercourse with 
the soul at such times when the latter is placed en 
rapport with celestial personages. In cases of this kind 
we have hyperphysical acts of the soul, hyperphysical 
18 



274 Oeigin of the Soul. 

personages present, and hyperphysical phenomena as 
visible manifestations of thought. In the numerous 
instances in which these channels of intercourse have 
been employed by the Author of our being, those states 
of the brain and senses known as sleep and trance have 
been uniformly selected in preference to the waking 
state of the bodily organs. In the waking state, the 
objective psychical phenomena are, then, invisible to 
us; while in dreaming this class of phenomena are al- 
ways cognizable. Hence the applicability of these laws 
of the mind for carrying on hyperphysical intercourse 
with man in the form of visions. We say in the form 
of visions; for it is in this form only that all such 
revelations are made to the soul of the seer. 

Let us now pass to another noted instance of vision 
occurring in the life of St. Paul, which in this con- 
nection deserves, we think, more than a passing notice. 
'Not long after Paul's conversion, we are informed that 
on a certain occasion, while in the temple, he fell into 
an entranced condition, during which he witnessed a 
remarkable vision. In giving an account of this vision 
to his Corinthian brethren, he says: "I knew a man 
in Christ about fourteen years ago, whether in the 
body, I can not tell: God knoweth; such a one caught 
up to the third heaven; . . . and heard unspeak- 
able words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." * 
We are told by commentators that this account referred 
to the time when Paul went into the temple to pray, 

* 2 Corinthians, chap, xii, 2. 



Inspired Dreams. 275 

and, -w'^hile there, fell into a trance. ISTo particular ac- 
count is given concerning the nature and character of 
this vision, except that relating to the body, which was 
entranced, and that of the soul, which was caught up 
to the third heaven. Speaking of this vision, Paul 
incidentally refers to a question in philosophy which 
is deserving of more than a mere passing notice in this 
place; viz., Does the soul ever quit the body to make 
temporary excursions during a vision, whether natural 
or inspired? This question is one which, in some of 
its modified forms, had engaged the attention of phi- 
losophers several centuries before the time of the 
apostle. Hence Paul's reference to the question 
whetlier the soul was in the body or whether it was 
out of the body while in paradise, he declares that he 
could not tell. "God knoweth." The reply here given — 
*^God knoweth'^ — leaves this question wholly unan- 
swered and in the hands of the philosophers of his 
time. This is an important question, and hence one 
that can not be satisfactorily disposed of in a summary 
manner. 

It was evidently not the entranced body which lay 
prostrate in the temple that was thus seemingly trans- 
ported from earth to heaven, but the soul. It was the 
conscious soul — not the body — ^that witnessed the un- 
spealcdble and supersensible scenery of the vision; but 
whether the soul remained in the body, or whether it 
passed out of the body, he could not tell. Being a 
great scholar, Paul was, no doubt, perfectly familiar 



376 Oeigin of the Soul. 

with the teachings of the Greek philosophers of his 
time in regard to the numerous questions that agitated 
the minds of men in reference to the nature and powers 
of the human soul; for this subject had, from very 
early times, been one of close, patient thought. Writ- 
ing to the Church at Corinth — one of the principal 
cities of Greece — he knew well their familiarity with 
the teachings of their own philosophers. In his first 
letters to the Corinthians, Paul informs us that dis- 
sensions had sprung up in the Church at Corinth. The 
Jews required a sign — i. e., a miracle — while the 
Greeks sought after wisdom — ^i. e., philosophy. To the 
Jews, his teachings were a stumbling-block; to the 
Greeks, foolishness.* 

For several hundred years before the time of the 
apostles there were two separate and widely-distinct 
schools of philosophy rife in the world; viz., the 
Platonic and the Aristotelian. Plato taught that the 
soul was eternal in its origin, and that it had traveled 
like an archer in his chariot through the immeasurable 
rounds of eternity before reaching the human body, in 
which at last it found a lodgment. On account of the 
great superiority of the soul over material substance, 
he maintained that betw^een matter on the one hand 
and mind on the other there could be no immediate 
relation, such as direct contact existing between them; 
and without contact there could be no reciprocal ac- 
tion taking place between the soul and the body. Ow- 

*1 Corinthians, chap. 1. 



Inspired Dreams. ^77 

ing to the total contrariety or entire want of relation 
between the laws of matter and spirit, Plato and his 
followers maintained that the soul was only indirectly 
connected with the body through and by means of a 
third principle, which they called plastic medium."^ 
This plastic medium was supposed, on the one hand, 
to be connected with the body by means of a certain 
class of laws having relation to matter; while on the 
other hand it was believed to be connected with the 
soul by means of a class of powers which were distinct 
from the former, and, hence, adapted to the special na- 
ture and powers of the soul. This intervening plastic 
principle, then, possessed a twofold class of laws, 
adapted at once, through a contrariety of separate 
powers, to both matter and mind. In this way, and 
in this way only, an indirect connection and inter- 
course was believed to be maintained between the soul 
and the body. At the time Paul was going from city 
to city, disseminating the doctrines of Christ, a school 
of philosophy was established at Alexandria, called the 
"New Platonists." The teachings of this new school 
were directly antagonistic to the teachings of Chris- 
tianity. 

At the time here referred to there was a ruling 
axiom in philosophy which governed the minds of men 
as with a rod of iron; viz., "^ thing can not act where 
it is not." Thus the mind, which is supposed to be 
located within the body, can not act out of or distant 

*See Lect. on " Metaphysics," by Sir Wm. Hamilton, p, 218. 



278 Origin of the Soul. 

from the body without acting where it is not. To meet 
this difficulty, the Platonists maintained that, in ac- 
cordance with the principles contained in the above 
axiom, the objects external to the body, which the 
mind perceives must go to where the mind is located — 
say in the brain — in order to be present with the 
mind, where perception is commonly held to take 
place; or else a power of the soul must sally forth — 
say from the brain — to the distant objects, in order 
for the mind to be present with them in the acts of 
perception. The latter view was strenuously advocated 
by Plato and his immediate followers. As the body 
was formed before the soul entered it, it could exist, 
according to the Platonic view, without the constant 
presence of the soul, as when a principle of the soul 
sallies forth to the objects in the acts of perception. * 
On the other hand, Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, 
maintained that the soul built the body, and is, there- 
fore, its vital pi'inciple. Accordingly he taug-ht that 
the soul, being immediately connected with the body, 
is directly concerned in all its vital movements. It 
was therefore maintained by the Aristotelians, in direct 
opposition to the doctrine held by the Platonists, that, 
as the soul builds the body (which was then currently 
taught in all the early schools of G-reece), whenever the 
soul leaves the body, the vital functions cease; hence, 
^Hhe tody without the soul is dead.'^ Thus the Aris- 
totelians held that in every act of perception the ob- 
jects must, in some form or other, find their way to 



to SPIRED Dreams. 279 

the brain and mind through and by means of the dif- 
ferent impressions made upon the nerves of the ex- 
ternal sense. These impressions, which are supposed 
to be the true representatives of external objects, are 
conveyed by the nerves to the brain, where the im- 
pressions are perceived by the mind. For example, a 
picture of the external objects is formed upon the 
retina^ and an impression of the image is conveyed by 
the optic nerves to the brain, where the mind is sup- 
posed to reside and act, and thus, without violating 
the principles embodied in the axiom, perception can 
take place. In this way subject and object are broug'ht 
together. The different impressions of sense the Aris- 
totelians called species. Species found their way to the 
brain and mind, where the acts of perception were 
supposed to take place. The term species, as employed 
by the Aristotelians, was 'not used to denote the ex- 
ternal object itself, but was held to be the vicarious 
representative of the external object. Without enter- 
ing, however, into all the teachings of the Aristotelians 
on this subject, the term "species" may be regarded 
in a 'twofold light: the first as truly representing the 
object and affecting the external sense; the second, 
which was elaborated by the mind into ideal phantasms, 
were supposed to be cognizable to us only in dreams.* 
According to the Aristotelian philosophy, the dream- 
objects proceed from the mind as ideal images repre- 



* See Appendix to Bain's " Senses and the Intellect," — " Psychol- 
ogy" of Aristotle. 



280 Origin of the Soul. 

senting external things. The first of these represents 
the ohjects of the external world, the second consti- 
tutes the objects of dreams. Thus the theory of the 
Aristotelian philosophy of perception was made to con- 
form to the principles of the axiom, The mind did not 
sally forth to the objects, but the external objects, by 
their representative sensible species, were conveyed to 
the brain — the mind's presence chamber — where they 
are perceived by us. Viewed in this light, all our 
mental acts take placer in tJi& body, and not external 
to it, as was maintained by the early Platonists in 
reference to the perception of distant objects. The 
mind, say the Aristotelians, does not sally to the ob- 
ject, but the images of objects are conveyed to the 
mind. 

On the one side or the other of these two rival 
theories of philosophy men have arrayed themselves 
from the earliest times of speculation down to the 
present. Indeed, so patent is this fact, that it has 
been tritely remarked that every man that comes into 
the world is bom either a Platonist or an Aristotelian. 
In regard to the influence of the teachings of Aristotle 
on the minds of men, it has been said of him that for 
a period of more than two thousand years he held the 
world a slave. At the time of the apostles, Christianity 
found a powerful opposition in the teachings of the 
Neo-Platonists. Only a decade or two of years prior 
to the time that the apostles were traveling about from 
city to city disseminating the doctrines of Christ, 



I'NSPiEED Dreams. 281 

Philo, the Jew, a somewhat noted philosopher of that 
day, was at the head of a flourishing school at Alex- 
andria, at which time and place the teachings of the 
New Platonists were taking a firm hold on the minds 
of men. 

Even as Christ himself was often sought to be 
entrapped by the Jews, so Paul was besieged on every 
hand by the numerous questions presented to him by 
the followers of the Greek philosophers. In accord- 
ance with the principles of the axiom "that a thing 
can not act where it is not,'' it Was urged by the Platon- 
ists that the soul of the apostle must have been, during 
the vision, temporarily transported to paradise in order 
to be immediately present with the things perceived 
by him; or else, while in the body, celestial things must 
have been represented to the soul of the seer somewhat 
after the manner of species or phantasms, as taught 
by Aristotle and his followers. Being learned in the 
Greek, and doubtless pressed for an answer to this 
question by the different advocates of the two rival 
schools of philosophy, Paul declared that he could not 
fell whether he was in the lady or out of the tody at the 
time of the heavenly vision. Had Paul taken the po- 
sition that the soul left the tody and was in paradise, 
while it might have satisfied those of his Corinthian 
brethren who had embraced the views of the early 
Platonists, it would not satisfy those who adhered to 
the teachings of Aristotle; for the latter would in 
that case have urged their favorite theory on this sub- 



282 Origin of the Soul. 

ject, which was that the soul was the life — vital prin- 
ciple — of the body, and hence, that the body without 
the animating soul is dead. So, on the other hand, 
had he fully coincided with the teachings of Aristotle, 
that the soul remained in the body at the time referred 
to, the Platonizing Christians at Corinth would then 
have urged against such a position the full force of 
the axiom, that a thing can not act where it is not, no 
more than it could be conceived to be capable of act- 
ing when it is not. Viewed in accordance with the 
axiomatic principles here set forth, the mind of the 
seer must have been present with the objects in paradise 
in order to perceive them, or else the things of para- 
dise must have been, in order to be perceived, brought 
to the mind in images of thought as in dreams or 
visions. At that time neither physiology nor philos- 
ophy could furnish any facts or data upon • which the 
apostle could rely in giving a positive answer to the 
question agitating the different schools of philosophy, 
and, not receiving any information upon this subject 
through inspiration, his negative reply to the question 
would fail to give full satisfaction to either the Pla- 
tonists or the Aristotelians. But, adopting the course 
commonly pursued by the Agnostic, of neither affirm- 
ing nor denying the speculations of either school, he 
left the question to be settled by the philosophers 
themselves. His only reply to the questions which 
then agitated the Greek mind in regard to the soul 
being absent from the body at any time during the life 



Inspiked Dreams. 283 

of the individual, as in the instance just referred to, 
was, "God knoweth." 

Without entering into the subject of the gradation 
of souls, as taught by Aristotle, it may be briefly said 
that he maintained that there was a nutritive or vege- 
table soul, which builds the body; an animal soul, 
upon which depends sensibility; and a rational soul, 
which possesses the power of reasoning. The two 
former, having relation to the living functions of the 
body, perish with the body. The latter alone, in man, 
was regarded as immortal. The first of these exists 
in vegetables. This, in connection with the second, 
belongs to the lower animals. The rational soul ex- 
ists with the two former only in man. In the Aristo- 
telian system of philosophy the powers of the personal 
human soul were trinal, and stood in direct causal rela- 
tion to his anatomical structure, his physiological func- 
tions, and to his conscious or mental operations. And 
had his immediate followers taken one step in advance 
of their illustrious predecessor, and shown that what 
is known as the conscious or mental powers were, by 
an inveterate or irresistible law of thought, capable 
of setting up an action independently of the brain, 
as in nocturnal visions, and that it mattered not 
whether the thoughts of the mind pertained to things 
present or to things absent in space, whether they re- 
lated to things of present or past time, whether to 
things in the heavens above us or in the earth beneath — 
all could be externalized and represented to the 



284 Origin of the Soul. 

senses of the soul in the subtile form and phenomena 
of a vision. With this class of facts once fully estab- 
lished (as would now seem to be the case), it would 
only require the seer to become en rapport with a celes- 
tial personage in order to witness the things that per- 
tain to celestial vision; for, as heretofore set forth, un- 
co-ordinated thought always gives unco-ordinated 
vision, while celestial or rapturous thought gives celes- 
tial or rapturous vision. Thus the question referred to 
by. Paul — whether the soul was in the body or out of 
the body at the time of his vision — might have re- 
ceived a direct affirmative answer well-nigh two thou- 
sand years ago. Every man's experience proves to him 
beyond all reasonable doubt that the soul (mind) may, 
in ordinary nocturnal visions, represent, through the 
aid of the memor}^ alone, facsimiles of objects either 
present or di^ant from the body, both in regard to 
time and space, without the soul quitting the body to 
be present with the objects pertaining to his vision. 
We say the objects pertaining to his vision; for, as 
heretofore shown, these objects are not physical, but 
of a spiritual nature. In \dsion the soul itself is en- 
dowed with capabilities and powers by which it may 
make all its mental objects now and here present to 
the complete realization of all its senses, as sight, hear- 
ing, tasting, feeling, etc. The fact is well known to 
every man that his own thoughts become embodied in 
objective scenery around the soul in ordinary nocturnal 



Inspired Deeams. 285 

visions. And so complete are all these operations and 
the ease with which they are carried on that we feel no 
effort of thought on our part, and hence, at the time, 
never suspect that the phenomena before us are not 
physical. 

No doubt, as we have said, the Greeks at Corinth 
were famiHar with the teachings of their own philos- 
ophers; hence Paul's allusion to the question whether 
he was in the body or out of the lady at the time of the 
vision, and the direct bearing of this question upon the 
teachings of the two rival schools of philosophy, was 
evidently intended to allay any skepticism or conten- 
tion that might arise in the minds of his Corinthian 
brethren in regard to the subject of his vision. We 
must either vie^v it in this light, or else regard the 
whole statement simply in the light of a Aetorical 
flourish, which would Tindoubtedly be a much more 
inconsistent view of the subject. In alluding to this 
vision, Paul gives us no intimation whatever of the 
things he saw or heard, except that he heard "unspeak- 
able words, which it was not lawful for a man to utter." 
Paul's vision was by no means intended to be the final 
winding up of this form of inspiration. This special 
form of inspiration was left to be carried out upon a 
much grander scale in the closing scenes of the New 
Testament, as appears in the Apocalyptic vision, in 
which the grand scenery of another life is presented 
in phenomena of mind. We have thus bestowed a 



386 Oeigin of the Soitl. 

greater amount of attention upon the question alluded 
to by the apostle Paul in regard to whether the soul 
temporarily quits the body on such occasions, because 
of its like bearing upon other cases of the kind, and 
more especially on account of its applicability to the 
case of John's vision of the Apocalypse, to which we 
are now about to refer. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE EEIGN OF LAW IN THE WORLD OF THE 

SOUL, AS SHOWN IN THE APOCALYPTIC 

VISIONS. 

HAVING considered a few of the many instances 
of dreams and visions related in the pages of 
Sacred Authority, we shall now proceed to notice the 
last of the New Testament writers on this subject. 
In the account which is there given we have a descrip- 
tion of a remarkable series of strange phenomena, known 
as the Apocalyptic Visions. In the opening chapter of 
the book in which these visions are recorded, the writer 
informs us that his attention was suddenly attracted 
by a voice like unto the sound of a trumpet proceed- 
ing from behind him, and, turning to see the voice 
that spake with him, there stood before him a remark- 
able personage, appearing clothed with great authority 
and power. The hairs of his head were as white as 
the light, and his eyes as a flame of fire. Terrified at 
the sight, and completely overwhelmed with feelings 
of great fear, he fell down at the feet of the celestial 
visitor ^^as one dead." * He was not dead, but in that 
state of entrancement which bears the similitude of 
death. The body was apparently insensible, while the 

*See New Translation. 

287 



388 Oeigin^ of the Soul. 

soul (mind) was consciously employed in rapturous 
vision. We have heretofore shown the influence of 
sudden fright or fear in suspending or disturbing the 
operations of the vital forces of the body. That this 
sudden prostration of the body of the seer was the 
result of great fear will appear from what immediately 
followed: "And He laid his right hand upon me^ say- 
ing unto me. Fear not. I am the first and the last. 
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am 
alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of 
death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the 
things which are, and the things which shall be here- 
after." In speaking upon the subject of these visions, 
we shall refer only to such passages of the text as 
may serve to illustrate the subject pertaining to the 
condition of the body at the time of the vision, the 
peculiar state of the mind of the seer, and the appear- 
ance of the scenic phenomena therein described. In 
the account here given we have a similar condition 
of the body and mind of the seer to that which befell 
him at the Transfiguration. There was in each case an 
emotional feeling of great fear or dread of something 
about to happen him, which in both instances resulted 
in complete nerve-prostration, like that which com- 
monly characterizes the entranced condition of the 
body. We have already alluded to the fact that the 
entranced state referred to by the great majority of 
sacred writers was attended with feelings of great fear 
arising in the mind of the person mentioned. It has 



Eeign of Law. 289 

likewise been shown liow the influence of strong emo- 
tional excitement, accompanied with feelings of fear, 
serve, in many instances of common life, to overcome 
the vital forces of the body so as to cause the indi- 
vidual to fall down entirely helpless and insensible. 
In regard to the state of the mind of the seer, the 
writer informs us that he was in the spirit; but we 
have shown in the case of Paul's entraneement that, 
to be in the spirit, it was not necessary that the soul 
should quit the body or be absent from it, but simply 
for its conscious powers to act separately from the 
brain and sense-organs of the body, as in sleep and 
dreaming. This question, however, has been sufficiently 
referred to in numerous other places. 

We have elsewhere shown that in every vision the 
phenomena presented to view are hyperphysical and 
spiritual in their nature, and that the phenomena of 
a vision are orderly presented only when the thoughts 
arise in regular, logical sequence; for as are the 
thoughts, so are the phenomena of the vision. Our 
nocturnal visions are unco-ordinated and unique in 
character because the thoughts of the mind, upon 
which they depend, are such. In rational visions, the 
phenomena will appear orderly arranged on account 
of the orderly procedure of the thoughts. Where the 
dreamer or seer is placed en rapport with a celestial 
personage, there is an inspiration of thought attended 
with rapturous vision, like that of the case of Paul 
in the temple while in a state of entraneement. Sleep 
19 



290 Origin of the Soul. 

opens to every man a door to what may be called the 
lowest plane of the spiritual, as in the case of our 
nocturnal visions, in which the scenery of the mind 
appears to every man alike; while the presence and 
directing influence of some celestial personage, inspir- 
ing a higher order of thought in the mind of the seer, 
opens a door to a still 'higher order of vision, known 
as rapturous vision. Thus the writer of the Apocalypse 
informs us that he saw a door open in heaven, and 
heard a voice saying, "Come up hither, and I will show 
the things which must be hereafter. And immediately 
I was in the spirit.'^ In order for the seer to be in 
the spirit it was not, as above shown, necessary that 
the soul should quit its connection with the body, but 
simply for the conscious or mental powers to act in- 
dependently of the brain and sense-organs of the body, 
while at the same time the unconscious, instinctive 
powers continue their accustomed operations in the 
maintenance of the living cell-functions; for without 
the continuance of the latter psychical forces, the seer 
would not have survived the vision either to write or 
describe orally the things of the Apocalypse. The 
opening of a door, as above mentioned, was nothing 
more nor less than the elevation of the conscious pow- 
ers of the seer to a higher order of ecstatic vision, from 
which point of observation there followed a descrip- 
tion of the vision of the Apocalypse. 

That the scenery described by the writer of the 
Apocalypse was that of a vision will appear from the 



Eeign of Law. 391 

following: "And thus I saw the horses in the vision^ 
and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire 
and of jacinth and brimstone, and the heads of the 
horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their 
mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone." * The 
remarkable incongruity of the phenomena here de- 
scribed is w'holly without any parallel in the physical 
order of things. But not so in regard to the things of 
a vision, in which all the scenery therein contained 
is based on the well-known laws of thought. In this 
vision, the same as in every vision, the things pre- 
sented to the seer appeared to him as veritable things. 
Thus: "Write the things which thou hast seen, and 
the things which are, and the things which shall be 
hereafter." What a significant form of expression, to 
apply the term things to the subtile objects of a vision! 
Every man knows, however, that in his nocturnal visions 
everything afiects the inner senses with the same reali- 
zation and distinctness that physical objects affect us 
through the outer senses of the body. Thus there are 
senses in the soul equivalent to those of the body. 

The leading characters in this vision — ^the seer and 
the celestial personage with whom the seer was then 
en rapport — ^belonged to different periods of the world's 
history: the seer to the apostolic age; the other, repre- 
senting an earlier age, declared himself to be one of 
the prophets. Both were of the human race. One was 
connected with the body; the other, disembodied. One 

*Rev., chap, ix, 17. 



292 Origin op the Soul. 

appeared as the leading actor on the stage of celestial 
Yision; the other, only as an honored spectator of what 
was then taking place. In regard to the matter of ex- 
perience, ea.ch had, to some extent, partaken in the 
higher order of rapturous vision. Thus the writer 
of the Apocalypse had, during a period of entrance- 
ment, witnessed the vision of the Transfiguration. No 
part of the scenery here described was of a physical 
nature, hut simply the representation of physical phe- 
nomena. In this vision neither the seer nor the celes- 
tial personage treated the things presented simply as 
mere figments of the mind (as men generally declare 
vision to be), but as veritable things (phenomena) af- 
fecting the senses of the soul. Was it the sole pur- 
pose of this vision to present to the seer in symbolic 
characters of the mind the peculiar nature of that class 
of phenomena which pertain to the soul's future state 
of existence? Be this as it may, the phenomena pre- 
sented were not of a material nature, but simply repre- 
sentative of the material presented in the form of a 
vision, in which everything — whether of the past, pres- 
ent, or future; whether absent, in time or space — ap- 
peared to the senses of the soul as now and there pres- 
ent. We all have a verification of this fact in dream- 
ing, in which everything pertaining to our vision — 
it matters not how strange or unique in its appear- 
ance — whether absent in time or space, whether it be 
regarded as either nocturnal (natural) or inspired, 
there is nothing within the comprehension of the mind 



Eeign of Law. 293 

that can be claimed as impossible, or even difficult, 
for it to produce in such manner and form as the phe- 
nomena above referred to. And as all men are endowed 
with these powers of the mind, their exercise must 
point to some higher order and use than that dis- 
played in the ordinary visions of the night. It was 
from the book of remembrance — ^transcripts of the 
memor}^ — ^that Babylon, one of the world's former cen- 
ters of commerce and trade, was brought up, and then 
made present in celestial vision, several centuries after 
the time of its destruction. Thus we see the human 
mind may, in the phenxDmena of vision, triumph over 
time and space by representing everything in spiritual 
form as now and here present to the soul's inner senses. 
There are two classes of phenomena: the one material, 
the other spiritual, or, rather, psydho-spiritual. Every 
thought that arises independently of the brain, 
whether in sleep or trance, is attended by an accom- 
panying phenomenon, which truly represents the 
thought with its phenomenal objects to the eye of the 
beholder, whether that thought or the thing thought 
of has relation to the legitimate business of one's life 
or the corruptions in which he may have been engaged. 
All are faithfully and most truly portrayed by the 
mind in the form of a vision. In accordance with this 
unvarying law, there can be nothing concealed or hid- 
den in the inmost recesses of the mind that shall not 
be openly revealed to the individual. 

All the phenomena pertaining to the Apocalyptic 



294 Origii^ of the Soul. 

vision may be ascribed to the celestial personage pre- 
sented for the occasion, while the seer himself occu- 
pied the more subordinate position of a highly-honored 
spectator. Whenever any phenomena of a remarkable 
or highly-exciting character were to be presented to 
the seer, certain agencies were sometimes employed 
to attract and hold his attention to the scenes and 
things that were immediately to follow. For what 
other purpose can we ascribe the introduction of the 
four beasts, full of eyes before and behind, within and 
without, each having six wings, but simply to attract 
the attention of the seer by their remarkable appear- 
ance and personification of human speech? It was 
no doubt for this purpose that, at the opening of each 
seal, one of the four beasts would immediately proclaim 
with a loud voice, as if in tones of thunder, "Come 
and see." In what other sense can we ascribe the intro- 
duction of the seven vials but to attract the attention 
to the remarkable scenic phenomena that were about 
to follow? The -same may be said in reference to the 
introduction of the seven trumpets which served to 
call the attention of the seer to the wonderful scenes 
that directly followed upon the sudden blast of each. 
Thus, as each trumpet sounded, it was immediately 
followed by a new and strange display of scenery, differ- 
ing widely in appearance from the one that preceded it. 
In the Apocalyptic vision, which may be regarded 
as the highest type of vision of which we have any ac- 
count, there was a scenic representation of the earth. 



Reign of Law. 295 

with, its vast oceans, islands, continents, mountains, 
and rivers, all presented in unstable array around the 
seer. In this, as indeed is characteristic of every known 
form of vision, everything presented to view was sub- 
ject to rapid change, both, in regard to the appearance 
of the objects and the places they occupied. Like the 
ever-changing and dissolving views of the camera, 
these phenomena were always presented in tbe most 
highly-attenuated shades of light and colors. Thus 
all the scenery described by the seer was presented 
under the subtile form of a vision, w'hic'h, in all cases 
of vision, is couched in the same familiar colors of 
mind as those which every man witnesses in his 
dreams. In that remarkable display of scenery por- 
trayed in the Apocalyptic vision, one scene would fol- 
low in the wake of another, appearing in quick succes- 
sion, accordingly as the attention of the seer was at- 
tracted by the opening of a seal, the sounding of a 
trumpet, or the pouring out of the contents of a vial 
into the air, on the earth, or upon the waters of the 
sea. 

At each given signal there instantly followed, as 
if by magic, scenes of the most extraordinary kind and 
character, accompanied by disturbances and commo- 
tions taking place upon the surface of the earth, in 
the sea, in the air, or in the stellar firmament. Every- 
thing witnessed in this display of scenery and subtile 
phenomena appeared to be undergoing more or less 
rapid transit from one place to another. Unlike the 



296 Origin of the Soul. 

stable things of earth, the mountains and islands rep- 
resented in the vision fled away from their respective 
places and from the presence of the seer. The stars 
that emblazoned the canopy of the soul would, from 
time to time, disappear from view until finally every- 
thing representative 'of the things of earth, sea, or sky 
were rolled together as a scroll of parchment, as if to 
show the ease with which the destruction and reproduc- 
tion of these things took place. So complete was the 
annihilation of these things that the very places which 
they had previously occupied could no longer be identi- 
fied. Like the unstable morning dream, everything 
here portrayed, having served the purpose intended in 
illustrating the wonderful powers of the mind in rela- 
tion to the laws and phenomena of tliought and the 
purpose which these things were evidently intended to 
subserve in relation to the scenery of another life, hav- 
ing, I say, fulfilled their purpose, the entire content 
of the Apocalyptic vision fled away from the presence 
of the seer. Constant destruction and reproduction 
was the order of this vision, as indeed is the case with 
every other vision. 

TOiere are two conditions that served to distinguish 
this vision from that of "the ordinary visions of the 
night; viz., the presence of a celestial nersonage, with 
whom the seer was en rapport, and the exercise of the 
will in connection with the other faculties of intelli- 
gence. It is evidently the temporary suspension of the 
exercise of this faculty that prevents our nocturnal 



Reign" of Law. 297 

visions from proceeding in tihe same rational order of 
sequence as t'hat which attends the waking state of 
the brain and senses. Why is it that the will generally 
fails, at such times, to act mth the other faculties of 
intelligence in such a manner as tO' co-ordinate the 
thoughts, as in the waking state? This, as we have 
seen, depends, doubtless, upon the fact that in the 
waking state the objects of the external senses dwell 
or continue for a greater length of time than that 
which takes place in dreaming, w'hich brings about a 
slower movement in the operations of the mind, thus 
giving the will, in the former case, an opportunity to 
engage in deliberative exercise. A very rapid move- 
ment of the thoughts is always incompatible with de- 
liberative exercise of the mind. We have a noted ex- 
ample of this under the high emotional excitement of 
anger, in which the influence of this disturbance over- 
runs and crowds out the deliberate action of the will 
over the thoughts. We can not regulate our thoughts 
so as to bring them into rational exercise in sudden 
outbursts of passion, as in the heat and hurry of rage. 
The voluntary faculty is then ready to act, as in other 
cases; but in these instances is crowded into temporary 
abeyance on account of the extraordinary exercise of 
some one or more of the other faculties of the mind. 
But there is another influence which prevents the 
mind from engaging in logical exercise in dreaming; 
thus every thought is attended with an objective phe- 
nomenon corresponding with the subjective idea. In 



298 Origij^ of the Soul. 

dreaming, the objective scenery serves to divert the 
mental operations from one scene to another. 

Accordingly, every concept of thought produces a 
change in the objective scenery; and the objective 
scenery carries the mind rapidly forward from scene 
to scene: hence the attention is constantly diverted 
from one object to another as rapidly as the thoughts 
and moments fly. Even in the Apocalyptic vision, 
where the will was acting with the other faculties of 
the mind, there was no time for any decided display 
of the powers of reasoning to be manifested by the seer, 
because the mind was rapidly carried along by the ob- 
jective scenery of the vision, which was, no doubt, the 
product of the mind of the celestial personage' who, 
through the objective scenery presented, held the 
thoughts of the seer to the panoTamic phenomena be- 
fore him. For like reasons there was little or no op- 
poTtunit}^ for the exercise of any of the other faculties 
beyond those of the perceptive powers and the emo- 
tional feelings of great wonder and amazement. 

Notwithstanding the will acts but seldom in dream- 
ing, we liave nevertheless cited instances in which indi- 
viduals experience slight glimpses of reasoning at those 
times, as in the case of students of mathematics (where 
the brain was greatly fatigued in attempting to solve 
some difficult problem), having fallen into a state of 
profound sleep, in whieh the mind, feeling less of the 
fatigue than the body, has continued the same chain 
of exercise as before, until the problem was solved. A 



Reign of Law. 299 

question of this kind could not have been solved ex- 
cept by a process of reasoning, in which the thoughts 
were so regulated as to apply the rules of arithmetic 
calculations, and thus daguerreotype, as it were, all the 
different parts of the problem in his nightly vision. 
That the will has the power of acting to a certain lim- 
ited extent in dreams will appear from the fact of its 
starting up certain special trains of thought, as in the 
case of excursive dreams. Thus, when we determine 
to visit a friend or some city in our dreams, the deter- 
mination to do so is an act of the will; but as each and 
every thought is attended with a corresponding phe- 
nomenon which appears to the sense; and as the objects 
of sense, at these times, act as a constant diversion to 
the mind, we are carried along from object to object 
and from scene to scene, until the whole course of the 
dream is often changed from the original purpose. In 
this way the trains of thought, with the accompanying 
scenery, become erratic and irrational to a high degree. 
Where thought succeeds thought with great rapidity, 
we have a condition of mental action incompatible with 
deliberative or rational exercise. 

Having thus shown the possibility of the occasional 
exercise of the will in directing the thoughts of the 
mind in ordinary dream or vision, let us now suppose 
that immediately after the close of the Apocalyptic 
vision the inspired writer had, on account of a feeling 
of great fatigue and depression of the nervous system, 
fallen into a state of profound sleep; and that the mind. 



300 Origin or the Soul. 

under the co-operation of the will power, passed into 
that rare state of vision and rational exercise of which 
we have just been speaking; the seer could, in that 
case, have produced in a dream another vision, in which 
would have appeared in regular duplicate form all the 
remarkable phenomena of the Apocalyptic vision. 
Thus, with the aid of the memory, and the will exerting 
a proper control over the thoughts of the mind, he 
could without difficulty have recovered in a regular, 
consecutive manner all the ideas and thoughts that en- 
tered into the inspired vision. This could have been 
accomplished without the aid of the celestial personage 
whose presence and dictation was so necessary to the 
production of the former vision. To think in sleep is 
to dream, and to dream is a spiritual process of the 
mind; hence with the will and the memory in exercise 
so as to csLTYj on a course of consecutive reasoning, in 
which the same thoughts were linked together that 
inspired the Apocalj^'ptic vision, all the scenery of that 
vision might have been readily reproduced from the 
beginning to its close. In this way, simply by a draft 
upon the memory, the inspired writer could have repro- 
duced, while his brain was resting under the calming 
influence of sleep, a faithful transcript of all the scenes 
of the Apocaljrpse in a very much shorter period of time 
than was required by the mind to furnish it in written 
manuscript form. "What thou seest, write in a book." * 
If at the close of this vision the mind could, from mem- 

*Rev., chap, i, 11. 



Eeign of Law. 301 

ory alone, arrange the scenery of these visions in regular 
book form, it could, with the same mental powers in 
operation, reproduce the same scenery in a dream. 
"With such an endowment of the mental powers as we 
see the mind is capable of accomplishing in the produc- 
tion of the phenomena of representative thought, there 
was nothing to prevent the seer, while the mind was 
acting under the directing influence of the will, from 
representing in a dream a true facsimile of the great 
White Throne, with Him that sat upon it confronted 
by a sea of glass mingled with fire, together with the 
encircling rainbow, like that of the inspired vision. 
All these things, with the raining of fire and hail, 
accompanied by thunderings and lightnings and earth- 
quakes, might have been as readily reproduced by the 
seer on the spiritual side of the mind, in all respects 
resembling the former vision. Everything that per- 
tained to that vision might have been reproduced ver- 
batim et seriatim, without any other aid than that which 
his own mind and memory were capable of furnishing. 
As in the inspired vision, so in regard to the uninspired, 
the phenomena presented to the seer would, at the time 
of its occurrence, have impressed the senses of his soul 
with all the distinctness and realization that material 
objects impress the mind through the sense-adjuncts 
of the body. The phenomena of an ordinary dream, 
then (with which all men are more or less familiar in 
their own nightly experience), are the same in kind and 
mental character as those which pertain to the dreams 



302 Oeigin of the Soul. 

of sacred authority. Such phenomena, whether re- 
garded as natural or inspired, never appear to the ob- 
servation of an}^ one, except when the mind is acting 
independently of the brain and its dependent sensory- 
nerves, as in sleep or trance. 

In that great and gTand display of cosmical phe- 
nomena, mentioned in the Apocalyptic vision, and its 
sudden destruction, which from time to time was ob- 
served to take place, there was not the slightest shock 
or disturbance of any kind produced in the quiet order 
of external nature. While the sun, moon, and stars 
of this vision were constantly changing their places, 
or entirely disappearing, all the laws pertaining to ma- 
terial things, external to the body of the seer, con- 
tinued to perform their accustomed round of operations, 
showing conclusively that the order and phenomena of 
each world were separate and distinct from the other, 
the "one being material, the other psychical. While the 
body during sleep and entrancement was subject to the 
influence and operation of one class of laws, as the 
material, the conscious or mental powers of the soul 
were at the same time entirely under the controlling in- 
fluence of another — ^the psycho-spiritual. The world 
in which his conscious powers were engaged was men- 
tal, and representative of the material — a world of mind 
only. Everything described in the inspired vision, 
whether referring to the past or the future, whether 
referring to Babylonian times and history, or whether 
relating to events that were to take place .during the 



Eeign of Law. 303 

thousands of years to come, — all were represented ob- 
jectively to the seer, under the highly-attenuated fahric 
of a vision. What, then, if the class of mental powers 
to which we here allude, and which have been so com- 
monly looked upon by all men as being wholly unworthy 
of their attention and study, should prove to be the 
most important powers of the human mind in furnish- 
ing the highest and most direct proof that we possess in 
regard to the future existence of the soul after its sepa- 
ration from the body? 

When we reflect that prior to the beginning of the 
present century the study of fossil remains, which per- 
tain to the past ages of the world's history, was entirely 
neglected and misunderstood; and when we reflect that 
these scattered fragments have since been arranged into 
a universally accepted science pointing us to the im- 
mensity of the past, may not the broken and scattered 
fragments of thougiht that appear to all men in the wild 
•confusion of their dreams serve, when brought under 
the co-ordinating influence of the will, to direct us 
onward into the interminable ages of the soul's future 
state of existence? 

In dreams — ^in the ordinary visions of the night, 
the same as was the case in the Apocalyptic vision — the 
things relating to past time and to the past events of 
our life, always appear to the senses of the soul as being 
now and here present; present in our thoughts, present 
in the surrounding phenomenal appearances, present 
in all the realization of sensations and perceptions, 



304 Okigin of the Soul. 

present in all our emotional feelings; in short, the ob- 
jective scenery is at these times, to the apprehension 
of sense, as fully realized as are the physical appearances 
in the waking state of the brain. In every vision, 
whether we view it as natural or inspired, the thoughts 
of the mind are all externalized in phenomenal appear- 
ances around the soul, resembling those which pertain 
to our physical sense-perceptions. Viewed, then, in 
th^ Hght of these natural laws and powers of the soul, 
whidh are so constantly pressed upon our attention on 
the night-si'de of the mind, there would seem to be a 
twofold purpose running throughout the entire course 
of the Apocalyptic vision, one having reference to 
certain prophetic announcements of the world's future 
history and events; the other, and perhaps the more 
important of the two, directing the attention of man 
to the peculiar nature and character of the objective 
phenomena pertaining to another life — the life of the 
soul after the brain and physical senses have been de- 
stroyed. 

There is a prevailing opinion among men that we 
have no direct proof of the immortality of the soul 
aside from the teachings of Eevelation. This wide- 
spread notion arises, no doubt, from the fact of our not 
following closely in the footsteps of nature upon this 
subject. It is commonly maintained that the Creator 
has for some purpose or other withheld all testimony 
touching the natural immortality of the soul from hu- 
man observation. This is, we believe, a mistaken view 



Eeign of Law. 305 

of the case. It does not seem probable that He would 
purposely conceal the evidences of such in nature, and 
at the same time strive to bring to view the same con- 
cealed facts in Revelation. We hold that no less pains 
have been talien to convince men of the true scientific 
facts regarding the immortality of the soul than have 
been taken to convince us of any facts pertaining to the 
different branches of the natural sciences. Properly to 
understand any of these branches, we must study them 
in the true course that nature has marked out for us 
to pursue. Any wide departure from this will always 
result in more or less failure. If we would study the 
nature of Hght and colors, we must search for this class 
of facts in the luminous ether; and so of chemistry or 
astronomy, we must look for the facts pertaining to the 
former among the chemical elements, and those of the 
latter among the stars that shine in the celestial firma- 
ment. If we wish to acquire knowledge in regard to 
the true nature and properties of sound, we must search 
for this class of facts in the study of atmospheric phe- 
nomena. If we wish to obtain information in regard 
to the natural im^mortality of the soul, we must study 
the phenomena and laws of the soul in the line that 
nature has pointed out to us. Every attempt to prove 
the immortality of the soul from the study of its oper- 
ations in connection with the organs of the body has 
been a signal failure. To show the capability of the 
soul to act independently of the material body, we must 
study that class of our mental powers which act inde- 
20 



306 Okigin of the Soul. 

pendently of the organs, as in sleep and dreaming. In 
regard to the illogical course pursued by men in refer- 
ence to this class of facts, the problem may be briefly 
stated thus: Given the operations of the mind in con- 
nection with the bodily organs — the brain and senses — 
to prove its capability of acting independently of organs, 
men have in all ages shrunk from the -task of attempt- 
ing to analyze the dream-phenomenon, so as to bring 
these operations from their maze of entanglement and 
seeming chaos into a system of well-regulated science, 
in which order is brought out of confusion and dis- 
order. The whole subject has been either entirely ig- 
nored or looked upon as wholly inexplicable. And 
hence every one that has attempted to deal with the sub- 
ject of dreaming with any degree 'of seriousness or sci- 
entific inquiry, has been looked upon either as an en- 
thusiast or a visionist. Is the Creator, then, who formed 
the soul and endowed it with this class of powers, a 
visionist, because of his repeatedly calling them into 
requisition and special use in presenting them to the 
attention of the inspired penman or seer? 

There are two purposes to which the mental powers 
we have been considering may apply; viz., the one to 
exemplify the nature and character of thought in the 
study of the mental operations of the waking state, 
and the other to point us to the ultimate independence 
and final triumph of the soul over the physical body 
and the physical world, as exemplified in the dream 
state. In the investigation of the latter class of our 



Eeign of Law. 307 

mental powers, we find that there is no thought arising 
in the human mind without a corresponding objective 
phenomenon appearing in exemphfication of its true 
nature and character. And as the soul can carry on 
these operations independently of the nervous system 
and its sense-organs, so it would seem fully equipped 
with everything necessary for its survival after death of 
the body for carrying on the opera^tions of thought, 
together with the power of producing corresponding 
objective phenomena on and on forever, while God, 
the mind, and thought endure. 



CHAPTER VI. 

ON THE RESUERECTION OF THE DEAD. 
AND WHAT IS THE PART RAISED? 

THE subject of a resurrection from the dead is one 
that has more or less engaged the attention of 
every man from the earKest times of which we have any 
account to the present. The immortalit}^ of the soul 
is a question which has engaged the earnest attention 
of some of the most renowned philosophers of antiquity, 
as was the case in regard to Socrates, Plato, and Aris- 
totle, whose writings have been handed down to us 
from a period of nearly four hundred years prior to the 
Christian Era. In regard to the last two named more 
especially, their writings upon this subject are still read 
and much admired. Each of these philosophers argued 
the question from a different standpoint, giving rise to 
the foundation of two opposite opinions which engage 
the earnest attention of the two great rival schools of 
philosophy, the Platonists and Aristotelians. Plato held 
that the soul was pre-existent; that it is and ever was 
immortal, and indestructible in its nature. He main- 
tains that in its anterior states of existence it had accu- 
rate and innate conceptions of the "eternal truth." He 
held that the soul traveled in its celestial rounds until 

308 



Resuekection of the Dead. 309 

at last, descending to the earth, it found a suitable 
organism as a lodgment in which to take up an abode. 
On the other hand, Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, main- 
tained that the soul built the body; that it is, in fact, 
the vital principle existing in eadh and every part, and 
hence is in the same form as that of the body. He also 
taught that the soul, in its entirety, is the true Artificer 
of the body, and that there is a vegetable soul giving 
life and form to the plant, as well as an animal soul, 
giving life and form to the animal organism. He also 
maintained that there are three souls, differing from 
each other in regard to the office each performs — one 
answering to the vegetable is called the nutritive soul, 
which constructs the organism of plants, as well as a 
higher, animal soul, which gives rise to sense and intel- 
lect, both in man and in the lower animals. The animal 
soul exists in connection with the former in man and 
in animals; while in regard to man alone there is still a 
higher or rational soul .Yhich is superadded to the two 
former, and is that part which is immortal. In man the 
two former perish with the body; while the rational soul, 
being spiritual in its nature, is not subject to death, 
and hence survives the destruction of the physical body. 
He likewise taught that, as the animal soul is the vital 
principle of the body, vitalizing the different parts, it 
is in the personal form of the body; it dwells in each 
and every part of the animal organism. So, in regard 
to the vegetable soul, there is in the seed of every plant, 
like that of the germ of the animal, a germinal or quick- 



310 Obigin of the Soul. 

ening principle that reproduces its kind in form and 
fruit like that of the parent stalk, from which it origi- 
nated, thus perpetuating the different species of the 
yegetahle kingdom in form and character from age 
to age. 

Following close in the wake of the teachings of the 
two rival schools of Greek philosophy, the Platonists 
and the Aristotehans, the next most noted writer we 
have on the subject of immortality and a resurrection 
from the dead is the Apostle Paul, who may be, not in- 
aptly, styled in this respect the Christian philosopher. 
(The words immortality and resurrection are not to be 
found among the Old Testament writings.) Disputa- 
tions having arisen among the members of the Greek 
Church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul, in order to quiet 
certain schisms and heresies that had arisen among 
them in regard to the possibility of a future existence 
of the soul and a resurrection of the dead, wrote the 
fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians, in which he treats 
this subject from different standpoints. In regard to 
the first question propounded, ^^How say some among 
you that there is no resurrection of the deadf he first 
considers this question from a theological standpoint 
based upon the resurrection of Christ, to show its pos- 
sibility and plausibility from Scriptural grounds purely, 
and then proceeds to the following question: "But some 
one will say. How are the dead raised? and with what 
manner of body do they come?" * In reply to this, he 



♦We here quote from the New Version. 



Eesueeectioj^ of the Dead. 311 

says: "Thou foolish, one, that which thou thyself sowest 
is not quickened except it die: and that which thou 
sowest, thou sowest not the body that sihall be, but a 
bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other 
kind; but God giveth it a body even as it pleased him, 
and to each seed a body of its own. All flesh is not the 
same flesh; but there is one flesh of men, and another 
flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another 
of fishes.^^ 

But in reply to the question, How are the dead 
raised? and with ^Vhat kind of body do they come? the 
Apostle Paul, as if to remind the members of the 
Grecian Church at Corinth of the teachings of their 
own philosophers, says: "Thou foolish one, that which 
thou thyself sowest" (referring to the seed of the plant) 
"is not quickened except it die/' Thus another plant 
similar to the one from which the seed originated can 
not be formed without a vital process, which must com- 
mence in the germ-cell contained in the seed sown; and 
this renewal or germination of a new plant can not take 
place until after the seed dies, or at least takes a certain 
step toward decay; so neither can the resurrection take 
place until the body dies, for the soul never quits the 
body during life, according to the saying current among 
the Aristotelians of that day, "The body without the 
soul is dead." Thus the following indorsement and 
declaration by St. James: "As the body without the 
spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." 
"And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the tody 



312 Origin of the Soul. 

that shall he, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, 
or of some other kind; but God giveth it a body even 
as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own." 
But before attempting to trace the vital process by 
which the soul and body are formed in vital connection 
with each other, let us follow the apostle still another 
step further in his discussion of the subject of the resur- 
rection from a vital standpoint. In summarizing, Paul 
comes unmistakably to the following conclusions: First, 
^^there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body;" 
and to settle this question beyond a doubt in regard to 
which of these will be raised, he declares in the same 
connection, "that flesh and blood can not enter the 
kingdom of God." The kingdom here referred to must 
doubtless have been the same as that which is after- 
wards mentioned by St. John in the Apocalyptic vision, 
where the resurrected countless millions had already 
entered after the death of their physical or natural 
todies. "That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that 
tody that shall he, but bare grain." The body that is 
raised is not the physical body, but the spiritual; for 
^^there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." 
The physical body may be traced after death directly 
back in all cases to the inorganic kingdom as it was; 
while the spiritual body can not be thus traced, but 
surviving the physical, returns unto God, who gave it. 
Prior to the time of the fecundation of the germ-cell, 
neither the soul nor the body existed in personal form, 
neither separately nor jointly. 



Resurkection of the Dead. 313 

The Apostle Paul, who was himself a Greek scholar, 
and no douht fully conversant with the teachings of 
the Greek philosophers, pursued a similar line of in- 
quiry in regard to the subject of a resurrection, taking 
the seed of the plant as a familiar example from which 
to illustrate this subject. Thus he pursues the argu- 
ment on the vegetable side of the question, instead of 
that of the animal side, as being the one most familiar 
to and probably most readily understood by the mem- 
bers of the Grecian Church, to whom he was then writ- 
ing in regard to the teachings of their own philosophers. 

After considering the subject of a general resurrec- 
tion from a theological standpoint, he takes up the 
question from a vital or spiritual standpoint, arguing 
from the germination of the seed of the plant. At the 
time of the apostles, the words life and soul were often 
used synonymously. Hence Paul's illustration of the 
resurrection from the seed of the plant by sho'wing that 
within the seed there is a germ-cell which contains a 
vitalizing principle that survives the destruction of the 
seed. The seed must die in order that the renewal of 
life can take place from the germ-cell of the seed. So 
the human body must die before the living soul, which 
as a vitalizing principle is connected with every cell 
of the body, can be resurrected from the body to enter 
upon a separate, spiritual life. At the time of the apos- 
tles, Aristotle had so impressed his teachings upon the 
Greek language and literature of that day, that the 
words soul and life had become synonymous terms. So 



314 Origin of the Soul. 

true is this, that even at the present time his teaching 
on the subject of the relation of the soul to life and to 
the body is still regarded as a truism. Thus the saying, 
"The body without the soul is dead/^ is still a generally 
recognized fact. We are told by commentators that in 
the Scriptures — both in the Hebrew and in the Greek — 
the same word is often used for animal life and also 
to signify the immortal soul. Without entering into 
a minute detail in reference to the origin of either the 
body or the soul, Paul says, "There is a natural body, 
and there is a spiritual tody;" and then affirms, in re- 
gard to the soul, "Grod giveth it a body even as it 
pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.'' And 
so he might have said, with equal propriety, in regard 
to the physical body, which is the vitalized tenement of 
the indwelling soul, "God giveth it [the soul] a body as 
it pleased him ; " thus keeping up the distinction be- 
tween the soul and the body, but ignioring the ques- 
tion of how either the physical body or the soul is 
formed. He might have said, God gives to each a body 
as it pleased him; thus leaving the whole question in 
regard to the formation of both the soul and the phys- 
ical bodv in the hands of the scientists, to be settled 
by them. As the science of astronomy can be settled 
only by the aid of the telescope, not only in regard 
to its physical elements, which are being discovered 
by the use of the spectroscope, but also in regard to 
the play of their imponderable agents; so, also, in re- 
gard to the cells or minute anatomical elements of the 



Resurrection of the Dead. 315 

body. These require the use of the compound micro- 
scope in order to determine the nature of the vitalizing 
principle — the soul — with which the cells had been 
connected during the process of their formation. In 
proof of the current teachings that the soul was held 
to be the vitalizing principle of the body at the time 
of the apostles, we have already given a. direct quo- 
tation to this effect from the writings of St. James: "For 
as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith with- 
out Avorks is dead also;" * thus showing the current 
teachings of Aristotle at the time of the apostles, that 
the body depends upon the soul as its true animating 
principle. 

"Grod g-iveth it a body as it pleased him." 

Paul, recognizing the fact that the soul and the 
body existed in connection with each other — develop- 
ing together from a germ-cell in the seed of the plant — 
did not regard the soul as being of .such high order as 
to place it beyond t;he reach of legitimate inquiry; but 
under the simile of the seed he referred its origin to a 
living principle contained in the seed of the plant. 
In this he seems to indorse the Aristotelic idea that 
there is a vegetable soul as well as an animal soul con- 
cerned in the growth and development of both plants 
and animals by means of the principle of life. Accord- 
ing to the theory of life held at that time, the soul 
was regarded as the true, living principle of the body. 

* St. James ii, 26. 



316 Okigin of the Soul. 

It wais then held that the origin of the spiritual soul 
was identical with the principle of life, existing in the 
natural or physical body. In regard to the immor- 
tality of the soul, he made a distinction as between 
man and the lower animals, designating them as be- 
longing to the liigher and the lower — to bodies celes- 
tial and bodies terrestrial. Tlius God giveth it [the 
soul] a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed 
a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh; but 
there is one flesh of man, and another flesh of beasts, 
and another flesh of birds, and another of flshes. The 
celestial, therefore, distinguishes between the rational 
and the irrational — between man and beasts. The lat- 
ter, incapable of reasoning, can not rise to rational in- 
telligence, without which they can not attain to 
the high order of a boundless immortality. Paul 
did not follow the subject of the formation of the 
soul fa;rther than simply to refer it to the principle 
of life from which both the body .and the soul are 
developed by means of a vital principle connecting 
them together during the life of the body. "What 
means were then in use for facilitating the study of 
anatomy as a science in that day is not certainly now 
known. It is thought, however, by some that Aris- 
totle must have been familiar with the use of the com- 
pound microscope* in order to have reached the cor- 
rectness and proficiency that he did in regard to the 
structure of animals and their comparative physiology 

* See Dr. Tyson on'the " OeU Doctrine," pp. 1, 2. 



Eesurrection of the Dead. 317 

with that of man, as well as to their distinguishing 
mental capacities. Aristotle's views of the human mind 
are generally accepted as being remarkably accurate, 
even by the most erudite of the philosophers of the 
present day. The Apostle Paul made no attempt to 
give an outline of either anatomy or physiology. He 
might have referred to the physical body as a tene- 
ment for the soul to occupy and make use of during 
life, and say Grod gave it a body as it pleased him, with 
as much propriety as to apply it to the resurrected 
body of the soul; but he doubtless understood the per- 
plexing quesitions which were then agitating the mem- 
bers of the Church at Corinth, in regard to which 
he makes mention to their shame; for some of them 
denied a resurrection, possibly by reckoning man in 
the same category with that of the lower animals. 

Let us now pass from the seed or egg of the plant 
to that of the animal, and briefly trace the connection 
existing between the soul and the body. Psychology 
is now an admitted science. Beginning in the maternal 
germ-cell, the soul and the body develop together from 
this cell by means of a vital connection existing be- 
tween them. The soul serves, at the same time, as 
the vitalizing force and also as the superintending artif- 
icer of the body in each and in all its pa.rts. Thus 
the body is formed in every respect to suit and serve 
the soul as a living tenement and as an instrumentality 
during their connection with each other. As hereto- 
fore stated, all animal life, as well as vegetable life. 



318 Origin of the Soul. 

begins [ah ovo] from an egg or germ-oell. The germ- 
cells of the animal kingdom exist in countless millions, 
from wliich no animal organism ca7i he formed until 
after the process of fecundation has taken place, which 
requires the union of the paternal germ-cell [sperma- 
tozoon] with that of the maternal germ-cell. Thus the 
spermatozoa of the paternal cell must form a union 
with the maternal ovule-cell before an organism can 
be formed from this cell. Something must be added 
to the maternal cell in order to construct an organism. 
"What, then, is this principle — this something — which 
is added to the maternal ovule by which the organism 
is formed from this primary cell? First we may safely 
say what it is not. It is not electricity; for electricity 
does not usually behave in this manner. It never as- 
sumes permanent characteristics of sensation and 
thought. IS[either is it animal heat; for this already 
exists in the cell prior to fecundation, ^or is it life. 
The principle of life exists in the cell before the fecun- 
dating process took place. This will appear evident 
from the well-known fact that a dead cell can not be 
fecundated. There is, then, but one other universall}^- 
acknowledged principle among the imponderables that 
can be added to the germ-cell by this process, leaving 
out of view the material molecules of which each and 
every cell is composed; and that principle is the psy- 
cJiical, in which sensation and perception arise, and 
from which mind is ultimately developed. That it is 
the psychical principle that is added at this time is evi- 



Resurrection' of the Dead. 319 

dent from the fact that the mental qualities or powers 
manifest, more or less, in every case the peculiar mental 
characteristics of both parents blended in the offspring. 
This blending of the mental characteristics in the off- 
spring shows itself whenever and wherever any striking 
mental peculiarity is found to exist in one or both par- 
ents. In some instances these striking peculiarities are 
partially concealed by the blending of opposite mental 
qualities of the parents transmitted to the offspring. 
This blending of the mental powers of both parents 
in the progeny is both radical and complete, continuing 
in the offspring during the life of the individual, be 
it man or animal. Thus, true to this law, the lion 
transmits to his progeny his own mental and ferocious 
disposition; and so of every other species of the animal 
kingdom. The lion, for example, never transmits to 
his progeny the mild or mental nature and disposi- 
tion of the lamb. Neither does the eagle transmit to 
its offspring the disposition nor bodily form of either 
the lion or the lamb; and so in regard to man, each 
transmits to the pTogeny the separate power of build- 
ing up an organism suited to the mental manifestation 
and wants of the indwelling psychical artificer that 
constructs it. It is only for the use of the psychical 
that an animal or physical organism is ever formed. 
Thus we see in the one case transmitted the teeth to 
suit the ferocious disposition of the lion; in the other 
the claws, beak, feathers, and wings of the eagle ; each be- 
ing suited in structure, in every case, to its own wants as 



320 Oeigin" of the Soul. 

an animal. And, laistiy, we have the hands of mian as 

best suited to his mental requirements in serving the 
indwelling soul. So no species is found to change 
structure or mental powers with another. Each is al- 
ways formed suited to his kind, mentally and. physically, 
from generation to generation throughout the ages. 

Each parent transmits to his offspring that, and 
only that, which he himself possesses, whether this he 
mental or physical. Therefore each paternal germ con- 
tains within it, when blended together with its counter- 
part in the maternal ovule-cell, all that which is neces- 
sary to build up from this initial cell 'the organism of 
the offspring. Thus each germ-cell contains within it 
an impersonal psychical principle, which, when blended 
with its impersonal counterpart contained in the ma- 
ternal cell, serves as an artificer in building up an or- 
ganism similar to that of the parents. By means of the 
union of these germinal psychical principles, which 
takes place in the maternal germ-cell, the personal soul 
is formed. Each germ-cell of the parents contains 
within it a complete psychical counterpart of the oppo- 
site sex; but no germ-cell can ever form an organism 
until after the fecundating union of the two has taken 
place. AYhen examined by the microscope, these cells 
possess, prior to the fecundating process, an amoeboid 
movement — they expand and contract alternately. 
These movements are owing to an impersonal principle 
of life existing in the cell ; but this principle alone lacks 
the power of dividing the cell, which is the first step 



Eesurkection of the Dead. 321 

to be taken towards the fonruation of an oTganic 
structure. 

After the fecundatinig -aiiion has taken place, the 
first change noticeable occurring in the maternal ovule 
is an enlargement caused by the absorption of nutrient 
material. The next step taken, is the division of the 
impregnated ovule into two cells. Each of the daughter 
cells thus formed contains within it the same organiz- 
ing principle which is transmitted to the first or germ- 
cell. This principle we have denominated the psychical. 
The impersonal psychical principles^ when uniting to- 
gether to form the personal soul, form at the same time 
an indissoluble union with the vital principle contained 
in the germ-cell at fecundation. The personal soul thus 
formed by a union of the impersonal psychical elements 
in the germ-cell, and by uniting also with the vital 
principle [known and designated as the anima mundi], 
extends by division of the first or germ-cell from cell 
to cell. So the two daughter cells contain both the 
psychical and the vital principle contained in the first 
before dividing. Neither the psychical alone, nor the 
vital alone, can multiply cells by division. Hence the 
personal artificer concerned in the formation of the 
organism is psycho-vital, and this union of the psy- 
chical with the vital, as we expect presently to show, 
is indissoluble, and will continue throughout the dura- 
tion of the soul itself. As heretofore stated, the body 
extends by an evolutionary movement of the personal 
psychicail principle (which vitalizes the organism) from 

21 



322 Origin^ of the Soul, 

cell to cell until millions of cells, of which the body is 
composed, are formed. We have divided the psychical 
powers into two fundamental classes — viz., the uncon- 
scious, instinctive, which, beginning its initial opera- 
tions soon after fecundation has taken place, constructs 
the organism, differentiating the structure into all its 
parts; and the mental or conscious powers, which make 
use of the organism as an instrumentality after the 
birth of the individual has taken place. 

That the soul possesses differentiating powers is 
shown in the differentiation of its powers or faculties of 
intelligence. The unconscious instinctive powers, as 
a class, are witnessed and kno^vn by their differentiating 
the general form and structure of the body, as well as 
in the special functions of the different parts, and also 
in its adaptation to the different sense-perceptions, 
memory, will, etc. Thus the soul, in each case, in- 
stinctively builds the body for its own use. Both the 
soul and the body are developed together, each into 
personal form for the first time ' in the innumerable 
ages. As the cells extend in number and are co-ordi- 
nated into bodily form and structure, the soul extends 
in due personal form, pari passu with the form of the 
body. The blood of the mother possesses the principle 
of life. It has been shown elsewhere that the blood 
is alive, having received the living principle from the 
vegetable, which is, directly or indirectly, the food of 
the animal. The vegetable kingdom receives the prin- 
ciple of life directly from the sun's rays during its 



Resureection^ of the Dead. 323 

growth, and enters the body in each and every part 
through the circulation of the blood, thus supplying 
both body and soul with their requisite elements as they 
develop in form and in function from the germ-oell 
down to the close of life. 

As the differentiated nerve-current runs down 
(whether this takes place suddenly by accident, or 
slowly by disease), as the nutritive powers diminish or 
entirely run do<wn in the cells at the cessiation of the 
nerve-current, the death of the whole body ensues. 
And the body without the vitalizing soul is dead. The 
body we may follow in the course of its decomposition 
to the inorganic kingdom of nature, from which it orig- 
inally oame. But wliat of the soul? This we can fol- 
low only by tracing its capabilities and powers of act- 
ing without the aid of bodily organs through which 
it had been instructed when acting in connection with 
the body and world in the waking state. It can no 
longer depend upon the decayed body for the support 
of its conscious operations; it can no longer depend 
upon the world for any of its sensations. It has been 
shown that in dreaming it performs all these several 
powers when the body is asleep. We all know by our 
own experience that it can think and feel and act 
under emfotional feelings of excitement, while the func- 
tions of the brain and sense-organs are suspended in 
sleep when the physical world is not acting upon them — 
when all the phenomena axound us are changed and 
entirely dependent upon the thoughts of the mind. 



324 Oeigin of the Soul. 

We know that in dreaming the mind can think without 
the use of the brain; that it can see without the aid 
of the physical eye, as in cases of complete blindness 
from amaurosis occurring at adult age ; that it can hear 
without the physical ear; and feel, in the dream state, 
on both sides of the body alike, without the aid of 
the nerves of sensation, as in the cases of hemiplegia. 
"We have seen that at such times all the phenomena that 
surround us depend upon the thoughts of the mind, 
and hence change with every change of thought, as these 
come and go. We have seen, at these times, that the 
soul is in the same personal form as the body. If we ex- 
amine the body soon after death, we shall find the 
following subtile principles, upon which life had de- 
pended, are all absent: First, all thought and bodily 
motion have ceased; second, the formation or produc- 
tion of heat hias ceased, and entirely disappears by 
meaas of the well-known law of radiation. If we ex- 
amine the cells by the microscope, we shall find that 
all the cells have lost their vitality; for all amoeboid 
movement has then ceased. It was shown, when treat- 
ing upon the germ-cell, that, prior to fecundation, this 
cell had a visible amoeboid movement, which depended 
solely upon the impersonal life of the cell. What, then, 
has become of the vital principle — the anima mundi — 
that principle which is taken up by the vegetable king- 
dom from the sun's rays in the process of the nutritive 
action of the plant, upon which action we depend for 
the food that supplies the blood necessary to the sup- 



Eesurrectiox of the Dead. 325 

port of the bo'dy and personal soul in canning on tbe 
functions of animal life? When considering the sub- 
ject of the fecundation of the germ-cell, it was then 
shown that the impersonal psychical principles, both 
paternal and maternal, which entered into the formation 
of the personal soul, enters also, at the same time, into 
an indissoluble union with the vital principle contained 
in the germ-cell. This inseparable union of the impon- 
derable soul with the imponderable vital agent contained 
in each cell of the body continues on and on forever 
during the existence of the soul. At the death of the 
body, the soul, being then clad only with life which it 
had taken from the organism and from the world, is 
now surrounded only by the circumiambient ether upon 
which it had formerly depended for all the sense-phe- 
nomena of light and colors, while in connecti'on with 
the body. It is still dependent upon the same or like 
vibratory movements of the ethereal environment in. 
the production of light and colors after death as before, 
depending likewise upon it for all other sense-phenom- 
ena after dropping the physical. The vibrations of the 
ether now depend upon the thoughts of the mind ex- 
clusively instead of upon physical causes, as before the 
death of the bodily senses. After death the senjses of 
the soul depend entirely upon the action of our 
thoughts, which give rise to lihe sense-phenomena, as 
the thoughts themselves had formerly depended upon 
for their production during the connection of the mind 
with the senses of the body. As in the former case, 



326 Oeigin of the Soul. 

all sensation and thought depended upon vibrations of 
ether, so in regard to the latter (except the order is 
reversed) all vibrations of the ether resulting in sense- 
phenomena depend upon the mental action of thought 
the same as that which takes place during the dream 
process. The soul, then, having quit its connection 
with the body, the latter, having become deserted by 
the tenant, is now tenantless forever. The personal 
soul, being then supplied with a spiritual body, con- 
tinues forever. When we look upon the cold form of 
the tenantless body, the soul that had occupied it and 
used it as an instrumentality during life can make no 
longer use of it, but, not having lost any of its own 
special sense-powers, it has simply changed from the 
physical to the psychicail or spiritual order of sense- 
phenomena, the nature and character of which all men 
have witnessed some time or other in the unco-ordiniated 
phenomena of the dream state, when the brain and 
nerves of sense were not contributing to the mental 
action. While in connection with the physical body, 
the soul is equipped for a life in the physical world; 
and so, when permanently separated from the bodily 
senses, it is equally equipped with powers of sense for 
an endless existence in the spiritual. But let us here 
stop for a moment in order to see whether death pro- 
duces any deleterious effect upon the action of the in- 
tellectual powers, whether these powers fare as well 
in this final struggle as those of the sense-powers. 

We shall now pass to a brief consideration in regard 



Eestjrkection of the Dead. 327 

to the effect produced upon the intellectiLal faculties 
and powers at the time of the dying mjoments. We 
have said that the soul, when separated from the count- 
less millions of cells with which it had been connected 
during the growth of the body, carries the vital prin- 
ciple with it, leaving only a small amount of vitality 
remaining with the molecules of the cells. Seeing that 
the soul can act without the aid of the nervous system 
in regard to its sense-powers in connection with the 
environing ether after the death of the nervous sys- 
tem, we now pass to notice the effect of the final sepa- 
ration of the soul from the bodily structure at death. 
In regard to the conscious class it has been stated that 
in death the soul loses none of its powers. It is a well- 
known fact, however, that during the last moments of 
life the conscious powers of the soul pass into a state of 
complete unconsciousness, the effect of which is to sus- 
pend, at the time, the mental operations, including all 
sensibility to pain. There is no pain during a state 
of unconsciousness in death. We have a similar state 
of unconsciousness which hangs like a cloud over the 
intellect of the drowning man until after he shows signs 
of returning consciousness, which is then commonly 
attended with marked feelings of distress. If, upon re- 
covery from this condition, inquiry is made in regard 
to his mental state, he will inform us that during the 
tim'e of his unconsciousness he had no knowledge what- 
ever of an existence, either present or past, nor expect- 
ancy or hope in regard to the future. All was a blank. 



328 Okigin of the Soul. 

AVe produce -a temporary state of nncon'sciousn'ess by 
the admini&tratioiL of ether and chloroform for the pur- 
pose of warding off pain during surgical operations. So 
in cases of epileptic convulsions, the writhings of which 
present to the bystander the appearance of great suf- 
fering. But upon miaking inquiry after the paroxysm 
is passed and where the unconsciousness had been com- 
plete, the epileptic will inform us that he experienced 
no suffering or pain during the time of the paroxysm. 
The feeling or knowledge of pain pertains exclusively 
to the conscious operations of the soul, the operations 
of w^hich did not begin until after the formation of the 
organic structure had beien completed — not till after 
the birth of the individual had taken place. The con- 
scious powers could not carry on the functions of or- 
ganic life for a single moment, nor can the functions 
of the unconscious instinctive powers take the pliace 
of the conscious operations. Unconsciousness, then, is 
not death; for we have seen consciousness return time 
and time again, without the slightest impairment of the 
mental powers; and if unconsciousness is not death, 
what would constitute the death of the soul? It could 
not certainly take place on account of the cessation of 
the unconscious instinctive class of the psychical opera- 
tions, which act in connection with the nerves of cell- 
life; for these powers are never conscious. Nor could 
the death of the soul arise on account of the discon- 
nection between the action of the conscious powers and 
the functions of the cerebro-spinal system of nerves; 



Resurbection of the Dead. 329 

for we have all witnessed tbesie mental operatioris tak- 
ing place thousands of times when dreaming durinig 
the sleep of this class of nerves. Unconsciousness, then, 
does not destroy the soul prior to the death of the body. 
It is simply nature's anesthesia — Grod's mode of sus- 
pending pain in the dying man. As above stated, when 
witnessing the convulsive struggles of the epileptic, 
there is presented to us the .appearance of great suffer- 
ing; but upon questioning him soon after the return 
from his unconscious condition in regard to his suf- 
fering pain at the time of the convulsive paroxysm, 
he will then inform us that he had no knowledge what- 
ever of what occurred during the time of his convul- 
sion. So when we stand by the bedside of the dying, 
and witness the convulsive struggles which sometimes 
occur during the state of unconsciousness, we may feel 
assured that there is no pain experienced in the final 
struggle of the dying man. In all cases of recovery 
from a state of complete unconsciousness we see that 
the effect of unconsciousness is only temporary. It has 
been shown that where amputations of the limbs of the 
physical body had taken place, there is no correspond- 
ing dismemberment in regard to the limbs of the per- 
sonal soul observed in such cases during the states of 
dreaming, when the soul, and not the body, is presented 
to his view. If the soul, then, can not be mutilated 
nor be destroyed by unconsciousness. What else could 
we conceive would destroy it? 

Man may be regarded as a personal, spiritual being, 



330 Okigin of the Soul. 

with a physical body annexed. When the personal soul 
is separated from fthe physical body, it ta^kes the vital 
principle with it. "God giveth it a body even as it 
pleased him." The question propounded by the doubt- 
ing members of the Church at Corinth was not, whether 
the soul had a body, but, "How are the dead raised, 
and with what manner of body do they come?" Paul 
reaches the answer to the question by declaring that 
"there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body." 
We have attempted to show how the latter was con- 
nected with the physical body cell by cell during its for- 
mation and development. Prior to this connection, nei- 
ither the soul nor the body existed in personal form. 
The physical body is chemical, ponderable, and at death 
is subject to change of decomposition; while the per- 
sonal, imponderable soul, not being composed of chem- 
ical elements, is not subject to chemical change or de- 
composiition. The body is, therefore, perishable; the 
soul is imperishable. The body of itself is insensible; 
the soul alone is sentient. All sensation, all thought, 
•all emotional feeling, memory, 'and will pertain entirely 
to the sentient personal soul. In the waking cour 
dition the soul is acted upon by the phenomena 
of matter in the production of thought. In 
dreaming the personal soul is self-active. It pro- 
duces its own objective phenomena by means of 
the operation of thought acting upon the environing 
ether which vibrates upon the senses of the soul some- 
what similar to that whidh takes place by vibratory 



Resureection of the Dead. 331 

movements upon the bodily senses. There are two dis- 
tinct classes of phenomena: one physical, the other psy- 
chieal. Both classes are alternately perceived by us, as 
when we wake and when we sleep. The fact of the ex- 
istence of each class rests alike upon the same authority; 
viz., the authority of our percipient consciousness. 

The imponderable personal soul, in separating from 
the body, takes, as we have said, the vital principle 
of the cells with it, with which, as a vital link, it was 
connected while in the body. It now leaves the latter 
solely to gravitation and to inorganic chemical action. 
In dropping its connection with the physical body and 
the physical world, the soul is then acted upon solely 
by the wave-movements of the universal environing 
ether, with which it had always been surrounded while 
in the body, and with the wave-movements of which 
it had also been directly subject in the production of 
the visual sense-phenomena of light and colors when 
acting in connection with the subtile toning agent of 
the optic nerves. This all-pervading ethereal environ- 
ment, being universal in its nature, exists everywhere 
throughout all space, and, like an atmospheric envelope, 
surrounds the personal soul at all times, thus contribut- 
ing to the production of sense-phenomena by vibratory 
or wave-movements set up after the death of the body 
by the thoughts of the mind, the same as we have al- 
ready shown takes place in dreaming. 

The vital principle, having united with the personal 
soul cell by cell during the growth of the body, now 



332 Okigin of the Soul. 

suddenly quitting its connection with the countless 
millions of cells, becomes united with, the soul more 
completely and more firmly than before their separa- 
tion, and thus furnishes its just quota to the resurrected 
body which it has taken from the world; while at the 
same time the physical body becomes, soon after, in- 
elastic and shrunken in size in consequence of the prin- 
ciple of life liaving suddenly deserted the cells, upon 
which principle, in combination with the psychical, the 
cells had depended for their formation and growth. 
The body now continues to be subject to gravitation 
the same as before, while the personal, imponderable 
soul then becomes directly subject only to polarity; for 
there is a gravitating center, and there is a polar center. 
The former pertains to the chemical or ponderable, 
the latter to the imponderable — such as the psychical, 
heait, light, electricity, and magnetism. 

The soul, then, holding its relation to the physical 
world by its connection with the physical body, now 
drops its connection with the body and the world, and, 
being fully equipped with all the requisite powers of 
sense for a separate 'existence from that of the body, it 
continues on and on forever in a new and separate course 
of endless vision, while God, thought, and the environ- 
ing ether endure. If the soul can think and act with- 
out the functional aid of the brain; if it can see with- 
out the functional aid of the physical eye, and hear 
without the functional aid of the nerves of hearing, as 
has been abundantly shown in dreaming, it can think 



Resurrection of the Dead. 333 

and see and hear and feel and perform all other acts 
of sense after the brain and the physical senses are 
destroyed; while the psychical phenomena continue to 
be carried on uninterruptedly in an endless course of 
rational vision forever. 

In conclusion: There are two separate sources of in- 
formation upon which men have chiefly relied in re- 
gard to the immortality of th-e soul; viz., revelation and 
the nature and powers of the soul itself. If the science 
of geology has been dependent upon a careful collec- 
tion of the facts upon which this science rests; if the 
science of astronomy depends upon a careful investi- 
g^ation of the heavenly bodies that are floating in space; 
if the science of chemistry depends upon a diligent 
study of the nature and laws of the chemical elements; 
if the science of optics depends upon a careful study 
of the nature and properties of light; if the science of 
the electric agent depends for its further advancement 
upon a careful study of the nature of its intricate 
laws and their application to useful mechanical devices 
— if all these, and many other branches of science that 
might be mentioned, required close and careful investi- 
gation, how much more important is the study of psy- 
chology in regard to the true nature and laws of the 
human soul in reference to the facts which underlie 
its future existence when separated from the physical 
body! Now, if in all these different branches of 
science nothing hias been hidden or purposely concealed 
from careful observation, how important is the study 



334 Oeigin" of the Soul. 

of the powers of the human soul in reference to its 
present and future state of existence! Not only is the 
study of psychology important in connection with the 
organs of the body, but it becomes equally or more 
important to us to investigate such laws as may be 
found capable of acting separately from the brain and 
sense-organs of the body. If the soul is able to main- 
tain a personal existence after the body has been de- 
stroyed, it must be on account of a certain class of 
powers by which it is abundantly capable of acting 
independently of the brain and nerves of sense. If no 
such laws can be found, it is safe to say that the soul 
is not thus endowed by nature with an. immortal ex- 
istence. But, on the contrary, if the personal soul 
contains within it such laws, as have been heretofore 
abundantly shown in these pages, they are legitimate 
objects of scientific inquiry in regard to investigation 
and discovery. We can scarcely suppose that there are 
laws pertaining to any of the sciences that are pur- 
posely kept hidden or concealed by the Creator from 
careful observation — not even those of the Eoentgen 
rays of light — much less those of the liuman soul. If 
the science of geology, which is a child of the present 
century, was neglected and entirely overlooked during 
the past centuries, it was owing to a.n inexcusable neg- 
lect in reference to scientific investigation. As the 
study of this science has served to open up the past 
history of the animal races duruig the millions of years 
preceding the existence of the human race, may not 



Resurrection of the Dead. 335 

a like oareful invesitigiation of the mature and powers 
of the human soul enable us to reach beyond the pres- 
ent boundaries of time, by which we may be enabled 
to go forward in our investigations millions of years 
to come in regard to the future existence and opera- 
tions of the soul? More especially is this result to be 
expected when we consider the human soul as the great 
personal, conscious, spiritual counterpart of the phys- 
ical, comprising also, as it does, not only the study of 
its own laws and being, but likewise the study of those 
laws which pertain to all the physical sciences. With 
the foregoing facts fully estabHsbed, we must regard 
the soul as endowed with all the requisites of an endless 
existence, both in regard to its indestructible nature and 
its well-known cosmical powers pertaining to the spir- 
itual reproduction of all the varied phenomena of the 
physical world during such times as when the functions 
of the brain and special sense-nerves are temporarily 
suspended under the tranquillizing influence of periodic 
normal sleep. 

From these facts, which are presented to the ex- 
perience of every man during sleep and dreaming, it 
is conclusively shown that the soul is endowed with 
endless powers of existence which can not be gainsaid 
or set aside by any valid argumentation, thus answer- 
ing the question propounded nearly two thousand years 
ago by the doubting members of the Church at Corinth, 
"How are the dead raised, an;d with what manner of 
body do they oome?^' 



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